Founded in the fall of 1991, Laurel Moon is Brandeis' oldest, national literary publication. Each issue we publish features original work from undergraduate students.
1.
I do not dig graves
A shovel is a paintbrush,
Revealing new depths
Gently, the soil crumbles
A soft, dark powder
The more one removes,
The closer one gets to the Gateway
Discovery of where one returns a life,
To the same dust and dirt we were made of by Gaia
So fitting to return home,
To your origins,
To humble you,
To remind you that we all return to the beginning
Spread the soil back over the life
So Gaia may embrace them once again,
I return lives to be reclaimed by a place of rest
2.
I do not like death
Often the death of one
Leads to expression of life from another.
When one hits the boundary of death,
The boundaries in life break down,
Eliminating the limitations set in life
The "I love you"s,
"I'm sorry"s,
the honest conversations
The words never said get released at long last
But they sit in the still, silent space
Why do we hold this till it's just
You and the Earth?
These bursts of life inspire me to live fully
3.
I do not hide in the dark
The dark is where I am most vulnerable,
The light silences talk of the truth
In the dark, we can discuss
Death and Life
Grief and celebration
Pain and healing
Things that we don’t dare utter in the exposure of light
Masks fall without the past fear
Unpolished words spill out
Worries of weakness wither
With no light to let it grow
Hold on tight to remind you of the truth,
To come face-to-face with grief,
For hiding does not erase the pain
Do this before the light returns and
The truth is hidden with the moon.
The dark is where I share the barest truths