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Poetry
Wake me up
Oh! Tailorbird
You sit on that branch outside my window
"Towit, Towit, Keea, Keea"
The calling bells of the singing alarm
In that silent atmosphere
That musicality runs through
And refreshes my mind and soul
To begin the dawn with you
And make it fruitful and true
The rhythm continues and holds
The tender golden rays
Passing along the cloudy mist
In the midst.....
The shiny line of your black necklace
Visible to a fair distance
I see your sharp, little eyes
Searching for my presence
Through my little window
The tiny dew drips, falling from the top
On to your rufous head
Forming a shiny crown
Enhancing your charming beauty
You stay at the same direction
Looking at me
Thousands to say, an uneasy expression
In a while, you fly away
Leaving me a great expectation
For the melodious call
To wake me up
- Susi ABEYNANDA
The story of a palmyra!
I've been standing here,
Alone and bewildered,
Under the scorching sun.
And, never have I heard,
A happy laugh other than a cry.
And in dark rainy days,
I listened to ghost stories,
Which were told by those under my shade,
About murders and blasts.
They told about their far away relatives,
Who happened to be living in a place called 'South'
And whom they thought, would never meet again.
I wondered what the reason would be,
For I never knew anything of the outer world.
But I also knew,
Sometimes bit thundering occurred in earth.
Black smoke was all around me,
And sometimes made me cry.
Suddenly everything changed,
There was laughter and shedding of happy tears.
Buildings arose all around me,
Roads were cleared and,
Sun smiled all around.
The happiest thing I heard is,
That those who were in South came,
'Cause the bloodthirsty war was over.
- D.W. Lilani ANURUDDHIKA
Pious fraud
On the stream bank, in the cool shade
There squats an angle lost in reverie
Behold! Very pensive, as if in a trance.
And beside him lie the fish, that he caught
Some still throbbing, and more stone dead.
Close at hand, an earth filled coconut shell
With worms squirming, awaits his baiting hook.
Else seen him standing in the scorching sun
With fishing net laid at the sluice gate;
And spitting betel juice into the stream.
Still he is seen stalking a polecat,
Or flaying an iguana in the thicket.
Or carrying blood oozing flesh of tortoise,
Wrapped in taro leaf, as delicacy for sale.
To rob his neighbour of his chena crops
Soon after dark, he itchingly longs for,
The enforced power cut, as the street walker
Pines for her illicit lover; but it was overnight
He got caught stealing his neighbour's bunch of plantains
Their dwelling in poverty where no Eros visits
He seeks his amorous mate in the neighbourhood
Leaving wife and children for household chores
He is driven to enjoy forbidden fruit.
Misled by his trickery that a nocturnal cobra
Lies in wait road, the terrified passersby
Did virtually desert road, promoting his modus operandi
What money he earns by vile and secret means
On Bacchus he deposits with the illicit hooch
Often, at dead of night the village wakes up
With a start to listen to an ear piercing
Extempore obscene verse sung in high falsetto.
On the Unduvap Full Moon Day, having observed five precepts
He walked past my house, clad in brilliant white
With bent head, down-cast eyes and saccharine smile
These are nothing but deceits, pretexts and artifices
Of this notorious pious fraud, sanctimonious Haramanis.
- Jayaweera D GUNARATNE
My dream
I closed my eyes
There was a pretty girl as a fairy.
When I was looking at her
She smiled as a blooming rose
I was shocked because her smile
Pinched my heart deeply
No more tears with more happy
She touched my heart without holding hand
Smooth lips felt like a flower drum
It says me to kiss, her chicks
I tried to kiss her.
There were noises
I opened my eyes...
There was my younger brother
Oh! I was dreaming in bed....
- Marina Shamali WICKRAMASINGHE
Just a small sphere
A small sphere in the sky,
Our tiny earth is,
The star studded blue sky,
As its back ground,
Dust from the universe formed,
Into a small sphere,
Revolving in the glimmering,
Star studded sky,
Divisions galore,
For such a tiny earth,
In the name of religion, languages,
In the name of caste
Yet such a small sphere,
With seas scattered on its surface,
Forest spreads its greenery,
Birds and animals walk on its surface,
Yet such a small sphere,
One earth, One man kind,
Only one earth for us to live in,
Not to be destroyed, by callous hands,
Just a small sphere in the sky,
Our tiny earth is.
- Shantini Rubawathy VIVEKANANTHAN
Life
Dark evergreen leaves
Day by day turning
Yellow to red, red to brown
Brown to pale in colour
Like the fruitful tree
"Youth",
Spreads its branches
So high towards the sky
To grab the maximum sunlight
To feel love, and a tender touch.
In time to come
With colour fading and losing strength
Arrives old age,
With signs of streaks of grey hair,
Dark and deep wrinkles in the face
Loneliness, welcomes warmly with
Open arms, but
Heart craves for companionship.
- F. Shafna ZAROOKKHAN |
