To the unknown soldier

There was no body
For your family to mourn
There was no guncarriage nor muffled drums
For your comrades to march
There is no grave
For us to pay homage

Your love for the motherland
And the sacred duty to defend
Have been fired
By the legends and tales narrated
By your grandsire and the teacher
Of the exploits and feats of arms and chivalry
Of mighty warriors of ancient yore

For millenniums this hallowed isle
Was enriched by the guts and bones of martyrs
More illustrious than our lustrous gems
You were the heir to their guts and valour
Like Keppetipola and Madduma Bandara
You had scant regard to death the companion

You have descended from Rohana liberators,
Kandyan hill fighters and the sturdy peasants of Rajarata
You joined the Army at the crucial hour
As those elite show boys of ceremonial parades
Were deserting and fleeing the country to
escape from battle

You bravely fought for the land without owning
an inch of land
Defeats and victories were like rain and sunshine
You faced raining mortars and fought in the marshes
You crossed waterways infested with Crocodiles
To you day and night didn't matter, sleepless nights
And empty stomach did not crack your doughty spirit
Whilst the pub-crawling traitors were sipping
Whisky and Soda
Mocking you by toasting our enemy

Finally you joined the elite commandos
Bravest of the brave and the pride of the Army
You undertook many missions behind the enemy lines
In the dark thick jungles of Wanni
You were like the elusive black leopard
You waited for days in stony silence
With endless patience to jump the quarry
But one day you did not return from your mission

In the jungle where you made the supreme sacrifice
Mother nature is tending your grave
When the dawn breaks with glistening sunrays
Chirping birds sing your worthy praise
In the dusk with the setting sun
The mighty tusker with solemn silence
With trunk folded on its forehead
Trumpets the last post as the mournful farewell
You are the Eternal Flame G.H.A. Suraweera