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Gleanings

E M G E on Selected Poems of A R

Both E M G Edirisinghe and Ariyawansa Ranaweera are bilingual writers of repute. They write both in Sinhala and English. The former is a critic of the Arts and the latter is a poet, dramatist and translator.

Recently I picked up a book in English where both have contributed. Its called Echoing Ethos. In the present context the book as a commentary and creative writing outlines the contour of Sinhala writing in particular.

How it is so, I shall detail it shortly. But before that, we must know something about these two writers for the benefit of those of us who would like to know more about them. First the poet:

Ariyawansa Ranaweera has been writing poetry since the 1980s. He has written over 500 poems, we understand Kavi Kihipayak (A Few Poems) was his first collection of poems written in Sinhala. There are 10 collections of his poems in Sinhala in book form.

I give the titles of his books in English: A Few Poems, Admixture, Sparrows and Sparrows, A bit of Moon, Boundary and A Flower, Boughs and Branches, Bats by the Riverside, Dots. Borderlands and Spark. His translations include Stream Pearls, A Fistful of Lilac and 'Pearls in Bowl'.

To understand Ariyawansa Ranaweera's poems, we have to depend on E M G Esirisinghe's translations and interpretations.

In fact he has written an introduction from which we glean that there is brevity, precision and clarity in the poems of A R.

However, E M G E in a longish 25 page attempt in literary criticism in English tries to give an 'Assessment of a Poet with a Vision' without being precise and to the point. But that does not mean what he says thematically irrelevant.

It is his style of writing that discourages me to read and understand quickly what he is saying. One must also congratulate the translator for giving us the poems of A R in English.

Please read his assessment to gather more knowledge in understanding poetry in Sinhala.

E M G E retiring from a position of a very senior assessor with the Government has also qualified himself as an attorney at law.

He is sober, a true Buddhist and a man of values. Cool and collected he is impassionate (in the sense he is not aggressive). I came to know him more intimately when both of us sit as two of the members of the Public Performances Board.

But before that some years back he was gracious enough to speak at the launch of his book of essays in English with one of the fine writers of prose in English in this country, the critic Tissa Jayatileke presiding.

Let me now give you a few of the translated poems which I liked chosen at random without my own comments:

True
My poetry
Was borne of her
Yet,
Can we say
She is poetry
Personified
Because
True poetry
They say
Belongs solace
And serenity
Not pain
And desolation

Sky Above - Earth Below
After a long drawn yawn
Feeling extremely bored
The sky
Greeted the Earth
Morning chum
Shall we exchange
For a few days
Our chores
For a change

To Wife
Even if she is away
From home
Just for a
fleeting moment
Why did I feel it
as an aeon
The moment she is back
As a soothing
gentle breeze
How does
the burden of life
Feels so light

Speechless
Give me a friend
Who does not talk
Silent like the Himalayas
To take my tired mind
To sit quietly by his side
To drown the worries
Veiled in my eyes
In the depth of his
Silent heart

To immerse
In the abysmal depth
Nor sullied
By talk

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