Vatsala Radhakeesoonn was born in Curepipe, Mauritius on 17 October

1977. She started writing poems in English at the age of 14 in 1992 and kept on expanding her poetic skills in other languages such as French, Mauritian Kreol and Hindi.

Her poetry is occasionally published in local newspapers, international journals and some

anthologies. She is also the author of numerous poetry books and an experimental abstract artist. She considers Poetry to be her first love and visual Art, her healer in all

circumstances of life.

Vatsala Radhakeesoon is one of the representatives of Immagine and Poesia, an Italy based literary movement uniting artists and poets’ works. She has been selected

as one of the poets for Guido Gozzano Poetry contest, Italy from 2016 to 2021.

Vatsala currently lives at Rose-Hill and is a self- employed literary translator, and one of the interview editors of the annual online journal, Asian Signature.

Poem by Vatsala Radhakeesoon
for Silk Road Literature Series Anthology (Arabian Nights poems)

Travelling with the Muse

The dawn diffused its usual silence,
But in my mind swirled the dichotomy –
Should I paint, paint, paint
or should I write, write, write;
Brushes or keyboard venerating High Tech?
Head or Tail?
I didn’t‎ know.
Oh Gosh! What was going on?

Amidst my indecisiveness,
between burnt sienna and umber paint tubes,
settled a russet fox with eyes twinkling cunningness
and the Mars black patch of its tail prided itself
of the undying elegance.

“Who are you?” I asked,
“Muse of mystery” It replied
“Sit on my back, come with me!” It ordered.
Wings appeared on each side of its body,
It looked like She-Ra’s horse metamorphosing.

We saw golden roofed palaces,
terracotta walls
sheltering magical rose gardens,
yellowish roofs welcoming red and green kites,
We landed in a cave intertwined with golden necklaces
and some secretive camouflaged snakes.
A lamp rested on an ebony table.

My muse mumbled some mantras, unfamiliar to me;
and in front of us appeared a  cerulean blue genie ,
then the groomed Aladdin ,
I was mesmerized by his spotless white turban
harmonizing with  the chiselled  Emerald gem
at a centric point.

Aladdin asked the genie to bring us grapes, bananas and
freshly-made breads.
Then he narrated his story of getting a ring
from the sorcerer,
and the ring leading him to a genie,
Afterwards, he got a lamp in the cave,
and the lamp held another genie
who helped him to become rich;
He lived in a gorgeous palace
and was married to the Sultan’s daughter.
“Ah” he concluded “From a poor boy to a rich man,
such has been my Fate.
Oh Life, my dear guests!
You can never know.
Always keep faith!
I pray for you, terrestrial creatures
to end your sufferings,
With the help of my loyal genie
I can see, I can feel the pain
you are facing during this pandemic!
Keep faith my friends! You are all my friends.”

“Oh, dear poetess and sweet Fox” went on saying Aladdin,
“To each of you, I give you an emerald ring .
Its deep magical powers  you will soon discover,
but if you simply wear it as a daily ring
it will also protect you from omens, curses
and bless you with good health.
Now , I bid you goodbye, my dear  guests.”

Before leaving, I gazed again at this mystic land.
“Let’s go back,  now”  requested my foxy muse.

We were back in my inspirational room soon,
About Aladdin, about the genie –
I kept writing poems after poems for hours.
Oh what an amazing travel !

Thank you, Dear Muse,
Thank you Aladdin!
Thanks to the great genie!


Vatsala Radhakeesoon
Mauritius