Before settling down
White men who know me not,
Trotting along in a mighty haste
In lightning-flash steps and speed
Vanish down narrow alleys.
The sun too scurries for shelter
Like a frightened child
Avoiding roads and path-ways.
Shocked and shaken, the vaulted sky
Head wrapped in black shawls
Laments and weeps, widow-wise.
Dispossessed of all. am I.
I must kill my heart
With a familiar remedy.
I slink into a tea-kiosk
To reheat my lips and mouth
Slipping a drop of Lanka tea.
A fleeting, transient relief comes
Like what a helpless crab feels
In a pot of water, gradually heating up.
Sunil Govinnage
This Sri Lankan-born poet, is a permanent resident of Perth,
Australia. He is the author of several books including anthologies of
poetry. Essentially a creative spokesman of the rootless diaspora,
writer Sunil Govinnage wrote the above poem in Sinhala. The present
English version is by Kalakeerthi Edwin Ariyadasa.
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