Sounds, noises

Sounds that echo and re-echo
Sounds that roar and reverberate,
Sounds which elaborate ABC of speech,
Sounds, if not for your presence,
World would have been a silent zone,

Yes,

Sometimes you are sweet and pleasant,
It's nice to listen to rustle of leaves,
The peel of bells or village bells' laughter,
Tinkle of coins, or a baby's gurgle,
Or the chirp, of a birdie dear,

But

Noises make the ears ache,
Screeching breaks, droning planes,
Shuddering blast of an explosive,
Deafening roar of a high-tech machine,
Sicken lives of living, making life a hell

Of course

Noise, you are a thorn in the flesh,
Noise you are unwanted but glued,
Noise could you please be careful?
Noise! How pleasant if you can go away,
World would have been a much better place,

Radha Ranjani Jayawardena

How do you?

How do you quench the thirst
For love
When the thirsty heart
Has been broken?

How do you console
A broken heart
That holds a love unreturned
And unspoken?

Sad lovers
Ask these questions
In a unanimous sorrowful chant..

Though the questions
Seem complex, my friends,
The answer is simple: You can't.

Shifani Reffai

Retiree in Retreat

Cloaked by the din of the clock at dawn
Rushed to office by foot bus and train
Armed with orders rules and statutes
Toiled till eve to make the ends meet

After years and years of work and duty
Into a relaxed retired life of sanity
Away from office gossips and chats of vanity
Enjoying quietly the lif's real beauty

Hardly one calls me small now I am
Yet makes me feel strong and tall within
Hands loose mind free and the gab open
Unruffled by ties what more one wants

For many a man and woman a force spent
Down to a heart open for one and all
Gleefully lightened fearless to talk
With a soul and spirit burden to none

Dressed in attire that suits desire
Not a slave in office and a driver of quill
Taking life easy and contented in full
Off the fast breezy work to live a life still

Experience stored is open to all who heed
Maturity gained passed on to those in need
With anger hatred to malice to none
Quite at case one could rarely earn

Pressed from above and pushed from below
Whole day at desk and calls hallo!
A treat to retreat the envy of all
Pleasantly placed awaiting the final call

E.M.G. Edirisinghe

Praises

We speak of people badly
When they are alive
And praise then to the sky
After they are dead
They are generally
Our parents
Because we need not do
Anything for them now

Arul

The mice play

Between the dark and the dawn,
When the night had lowered her veil,
and the sounding sleep prevails,
only two souls are busily awake.

I hear in the chamber above me,
the patter of little feet,
looking for nuts or cheese,
and voices soft and sweet.

Trying to nimble an apple or some flakes,
or at least a piece of cake,
and after a heavy diet,
there begins the riot

They run about here and there,
dance in single or in a pair,
it is the ultimate truth that they say,
"When the cat is away, the mice are at play".

Rushda Rameez

Architecture of spider

Where's the end of the spider's intricate craft
But to trap a paltry morsel of a moth?
Look, the web dazzles in a shaft of sun
And the light shakes in a work of art.

Patrick Jayasuriya

Second mother

She is the shadow of my success
I grew up with the warmth of her bosom...
I was fed, I was taught and I was guided
She loved me like my first mother

I stand on my feet now, because of her...
My beloved alma mater, you gave me many a smile
When I cried, you were there to console me.....
When I won, you were there to appreciate me...

You gave me hopes to live as a real man
You gave me courage to be a real Sri Lankan
You gave me affection to be an aesthetic man
You gave me an accomplished human life....

How can I erase the sweet memories,
of thirteen years under your protection...
How can I pay tribute to you, my alma mater,
as you gave me a real human life?......

Tharindu Weerasinghe

The quip

I just can't believe,
That I have offended you,
By making,
A second proposal,
To you,
Though you say,
I have gone back,
On my word,
Once so solemnly uttered.

Now I wonder,
Have I really given you offence,
By reneging,
On my solemn promise?
Am I such a fickle friend,
That I can never again be trusted?

Oh! My beloved friend!
Listen to reason!
Put the past behind!
Wipe that owlish glower
Off your lovely face!
And bear forever in your mind
This little quip with care,
In love and in war all is fair!

Jayashantha Jayawardhana

Eerie thoughts

Waking up early in the morning
groping to pick the edge of the net
that barred mosquitoes access
to a taste of my fluid so red
the day starts for me
from a big escape.

A hot cup of coffee
puts my tired soul
on unsteady feet so lazy
to slither me out onto the lawn
blinking to clear the sight
through a cool misty dawn .

Yawning wide to cast away
the sleepy edges yet clinging
to sticky lids heavy on eyes
I see a hazy sky with a crescent moon
waning and dim ochrey and pale
fearing brother sun soon to come.

Early to rise still on roost
random chirps of little birds
the magpie with its melody
is the loudest but the sweetest
a short note repeatedly it flutes
makes me mutter compositions so to suit

Frogs in pond at the edge of lawn
croaks in cacophony so uncontrolled
howl of a dog in a lonesome house
runs a shrill down my spine
a sudden flash comes to my mind
a thought and a face on the screen
it's you who draws me to a journey
unknown bitter but thrilling yet
amidst scoffs nags and pother alike
borne and endeared with equal might
like a blizzard in a wintry night

Art thou so hard to be won
kind words nor actions has an effect
as if written on desert sand
blown and erased as they are written
pampers rampant of no avail
even a robot would feel ashamed

Ranjit Jayaweera Bandara