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poetry
Born free
Ten or more fluffy squirrels
Fan round and about the trees
Gather on my roof-top, begging for something to eat
Six o'clock in the morning and again at 6 p.m. to dine
Isn't it a little wonder has even little animals know to keep to time.
Again at two
Wabblers, mynahs and a couple of wood-pigeons too
Tweetering announce their bath time is due
Then stuttering and fluttering in the sprinkling waters
of the garden fountain.
They do appreciate the shower of artificial rain
Dips in pits, and drenched and dyed
Then preen themselves dry and you can almost hear them any
It's now bed-time so - bye, bye.
The world is so beautiful if you look around
The magic you weave as you set all animals free
Don't tie them, or cage them, for they are mean't to be
Free as the wind and the bumble bee.
The fluff of the feathers they now regain
And fly away tweet - tweetering
Bye, bye we will come again.
- Sheila BANDARANAYAKE
Hail & farewell
Hail!
Shepherd of the flock
Hearty prayerful greetings
And a warm welcome
Bells peal forth
A joyous welcome
Drums beat forth
Your mystic rhythm
Hail!
Intellectual, preacher, scholar, humanitarian, friend
An embodiment of roles
Zealous dedication
To the cause of the Universal Church
Revered Pastor!
Our cheers and prayers for thee
and
Farewell!
Past shepherd of the flock
Thy term of service spent
Thy mission accomplished
"Well done!" the Master whispers
May the peace and tranquillity
That comes with fulfilment
Be thine!
May the future years
Be rewardingly complacent
God's manifold blessings
Be abundantly thine
God be with you!
Our wish and prayer.
- Jeannette CABRAAL
The pageant of peace and unity
A rapport, a rhapsody, the pageant in Kandy,
a living canvas of ethnic variety.
A jubilant parade, not a cacophony.
Races merging-a living symphony
'Raja Maha Perahera' in dazzling grandeur.
'Paththini' 'Nathe', a racial splendour.
The Sinhala drummers triumphal beat,
The plaintive fluet's music greets.
Customs galore, of ancient traditions,
Beauty lovers, of many a nation,
Spellbound watch a myriad of colour,
Where resplendent dancers, leap in vigour.
The luminous flames of gleaming torches,
Illumine, a rapt, audience that watches,
The processions itself are mystique symbols,
To fanatics who clash terrorist cymbals.
'Maliga' Tuskers in all their majesty
Carries the revered relics of sanctity,
Along the pavement the ethnic bounty,
Sinhalese and others, in humane unity,
The plucker with skill, a resident alien,
From mountain chains of green-tea region;
From time immemorial, our ties were forged,
Cultures, customs, intrinsically merged,
A human gallery likes the Canterbury Tales,
My ethnic Lanka of hills and dales,
It wrings my heart at cries of Eelam,
United let's stand, to nurture our freedom,
With anguish and pain, you are music too,
My 'tear drop' Lanka you are you!
the multi ethos is the spirit of my land,
The fabric woven with ethnic strand,
Can paltry politics, pale, a paradise Isle?
Could demon hands, wipe, my Mother smile?
- Nefeela MUKTHAR
Two in two.....
Though you
Entreated me to call you
Sun, moon and star,
Whenever you become unconscious
With lust, I refused point blank,
For, they were more gracious to me
Than you, in my realities......
Though you
Appealed to me to compare thee
To the serenity of the blue sky,
Soft breeze and murmuring spring
Whenever you were inspired with love,
I turned a deaf ear, for,
They were purer to me
Than you in my vision.....
Though you
Begged me to perceive you
As an angel, mermaid or a princes of dream
Whenever your feelings were stirred
With empty conceit,
My eyes remained tightly closed, for
They were more lovable to me
Than you, in my boundaries .....
But, I remember
Calling you, often, instead
Rose, dew drop and rainbow
When you were in detestation and I,
In frustration, for
They are subject to decay
In no time....
We, being stranded
In two extremities,
Deceived each other betraying
Our souls, for
Our eyes had been blind
With lust, desire and hypocracy.
What we inherited from
Our misdemeanour were
Hatred, curse and sin only.
So in this diverse and vicious
World
Are we to invoke merits
On our sins....
- Sudath Jayatissa HEWAMADDUMA
Lament of a grasshopper
On rainy days I sing
The songs I wrote for my love
I sing with a plea full voice
For her to hear and come back
Into my life
My laments and my wailing
My pain and my joy
My everlasting love for her
And the story of our love
I sing my songs filled with emotions
For my love to hear me
And come back to my life.
- Bertholomuze Nisansala DHARMASENA
From the prison
Small window in my dungeon room
Sends my voice and love to my child at home
He has not seen me as he was not born
When I was put into this room in gloom
Seconds, minutes and days pass by
Without my wife and son close by
What I have done to be in this hellish cell
Only the God above me will be able to tell
I have not killed, robbed or raped
But 'law was unkind to make it prove
If I had wealth to hire a legal eagle
Never they will put me behind iron angles
I wish and pray that justice prevails
To guard the poor against law's travails
Wealthy and well-to-do dance all the devils
But poor and innocent only sent to jail
- J. NAGODAVITHANA. |
