Unsure Reflection

(circa 1965))

As living shades descend
And bring an end to light,
The day-banned wishes wend
Their way through night.

A mist of mystery melts against the restless sea.
Above, a dim eternity of stars unwind the tensions of the sky.
The glowing burnt emotions see
Nocturnal ocean depths descend
As far as do devotions of the day ascend as high.

Fluorescent roots, they reach into the waters' heart,
Nourished by the scum the day makes shoddy.
As image-anchored shoots, the stars impart
Their ghostly beauty to the ocean's body.

Perhaps the one to know it first
Was mystery's mist the wind dispersed:
The best of depth and height
Is only sight's perfection,
Conceived by sea and night's
Unsure reflection.

- Sitaram