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SECONDARY DROWNING

By Sujatha Menon



I swam in a dress made from algae and gold,

trailed a veil        spun from sunlight

 

grief tied a bow around my waist

and shed              a long song in my hair

 

when bright tendrils fanned across the lake

all who breathed agreed

it was like             a melody.

 

In the days that followed

me into the shadows

I rose and fell     on the back

of a blue humped dream

and all the while

the moon hung its smile

crookedly

 

such was the fate of sleeping lilies

that would never regild                   or speak

again of this world:

 

petal to petal

dusk till dusk.


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