The murder of a writer

Posted by Sri Lanka Guardian at 12:58 AM | Categorized as

By Basil Fernando

(A poem for Lasantha Wickramatunga)

I do not cry
for Lasantha
my tears are for you
Lanka, Lanka

Of the real ugliness
Lasantha wrote
his death
told it all

Surrounding a car
gunmen and guards
hunted a man
and revealed the nation

speech connects citizens
silence kills the nation
Lanka, Lanka
death now is your game.

Mahawweli,Kelani,Walawe
polutted rivers
carries to the seas
your shame

Shed not Lanka
crocodile tears
have remorse
for letting your children die.

You held the gun
you killed the pen
Lanka, Lanka you made
the land go barren

I do not cry
for Lasantha
my tears are for you
Lanka, Lanka