Sri Lanka Guardian/ Poem

The murder of a writer

2009-11-05T00:58:00.001-08:00

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

Solidarity

2009-11-05T00:53:00.000-08:00

By Basil Fernando

There was an old star
That never slept
And there was a younger star
That always wept

The younger one asked the older
“why do you never sleep?”
Older star asked in turn
“why do you always weep?”

The younger star told the older
“I had a mum and she is no more,
So I weep.
Now tell me why you don’t sleep.”
Older star told the younger star
“I once had a daughter
I have her no more
Ever since, I cannot sleep.”

That day the older star
and the younger star
became friends
talked ,talked and talked

So now the older star sleeps well
and the younger star smiles so often

Dilemma of the against people

2009-03-09T05:01:00.000-07:00

By Victor Karunairajan

Everywhere we find the against people
Nightmare to others when they relate
Scourge unto themselves they are too
Being against is their mind and nature.

What does make these against people?
How I hunger to know their thoughts
They think, behave and act most oddly
E’en when faced with minimal matters.

They are among us Tamils and Sinhalese
Muslims, Burghers and Malay folks too
For thirty terrible blood-splashing years
We thrust our land into chaotic doom.

Hatred has no class or communal divide
For Tamils hate Tamils Sinhala likewise
Tamils hate Sinhalese, they too as well
The is factual for other Sri Lankans too.

What really causes such a terrible state!
I do wonder whether it’s our own ego
Determines for ever our frame of mind
Maybe ignorance or lack of confidence

What should we do with against people?
Keep them, love them and or trust them
And award them chances to come clean
Banished of ghosts that do power them!

Surely I do not like the against people
But they are us too, ours, kith and kin
They all have civil rights and liberties
As much we do wherever we are too.

What such against people need to do
Accept we are all their kindly beings
And this land of ours and wide world
Is our own great eternal inheritance.

We have to protect and cherish them
For our own many generations to be
Over years, epochs, and eons of time
Thus we ought not be against people.

Eelam Airways

2009-02-25T12:28:00.000-08:00

Oh! How they fooled the Tamil people
And how they got fooled! And cheated!
Medicos, lawyers, accountants etc etc
Mostly of the privileged Diaspora kind.
They in turn dwelt on their community
And caused devastation of its youth.

No No Thanks Maya .

2009-02-22T02:32:00.000-08:00

By Kukkul Neelan. - Kandy

Thank you Maya for the Grammy and Oscar you want to bring to Lanka
But sorry we are in a wretched state unable to celebrate.
Thou have brought honour and distinction to your motherland
But for Lanka there is a long way to go to have a luxury like that

Though a few think otherwise, this is a house in total mess
Things are getting worse and worse and we have got everything wrong in here.
Thuggary is the rule of law and to bring peace we have put every life under threat
All Lankans are becoming slumdogs with no lead to becoming a millionaire

Too many people are coming and going to check to see if we are still breathing
Perhaps when Lanka is buried they will plant coconut trees here
Dig for oil and build their bases and we have sold the sovereignty for artillery shells
Sorry Maya we are not in a mood to celebrate your Grammy and Oscar

Will peace ever dawn, nobody seems to know
Though there are only three languages
We hardly understand each other as we all speak in different tongues
But you have brought all the world to sing after you as they all understand you

Though there are people making a lot of money, through war and misery
People are becoming poorer and poorer
And everybody seems to love their dry ration packs
Dignity in Lanka is long gone and now a forgotten word

Few people are counting on the houses in Kilinochi to loot
So that they too can become rich
But for now, they are only sending in artillery shells
So that people will run away with no time to take their valuables in their hand.

Sorry we are not able to invite you to Lanka
For the shell sound we live in will be no music to you
Get another Oscar in ten years time and we will give you a state welcome
Or get one every year so that we can meet you somewhere down the line

Sorry Maya, this is a house in despair and discord
We will only spoil your mood
Better not tell you are a Lankan though you remain the only
Silver lining and beacon of perseverance and determination

And the role model for future generations
Come in ten years time, may be Mia, we would have solved our problems
Then we will beat the drums and serve you the rice in milk
But for now we only here lectures and sermons and busy fighting the war

While on the ground only blood flow
In Death we live and Hate we breathe
You can go to your old school in Jaffna without any checking in between
Come in ten years time, but for now, we are sorry.

Sorry Maya, have a party for now in Hawaii, Obama will show you the way
We will tell you when to come, then you can walk
Through the length and breadth of Lanka in peace and harmony
But for now we are only paving rivers for blood to flow

And counting the death and destruction
Firing crackers if the score is high
But nobody seems to know or care where we are going
What has befallen Lanka we all seem not to know.

Though all our girls and boys want to see you
Have a party in Hawaii and send us a plane we all will come
I can vouch and swear there will be no fighting inside the plane
And that too on my own grave as it is not far away as for everyone else

As people in Lanka today I am busy writing my own obituary
Get another Oscar when we will be free
Then we will give you a big party rolling the carpet red
But for now we are sorry, we are on the move not knowing where we are going

Einheit, Harmonie und Ruhe

2009-02-15T20:17:00.000-08:00

By Victor Karunairajan Von Victor Karunairajan

We speak the tongues of unity
Wir sprechen die Sprachen der Einheit

Sinhalese, Tamil and English
Singhalesisch, Tamil und Englisch

The path we tread is harmony
Der Weg, den wir Lauffläche ist Harmonie

The soul of peace we nourish
Die Ruhe der Seele wir nähren

We entreat the joy of serenity
Wir bitten die Freude an der Ruhe

All our dear folks will cherish
Alle unsere liebe Leute werden Cherish

Time Please

2009-02-13T09:50:00.000-08:00

By Erik Downes

It is of interest to behold
The one who is afraid of clocks.
To her two tenses are of gold,
But future she now greets with shock.

The past of bliss- unfurling of two souls,
When on a clock her eyes the scene beholds.
Stifle. Kill. So time may not know gold.
The members writhe and seal the things once told.

Who would believe a course so sweet
Could end abruptly by the men
Whose eyes caused hers transfixed to meet
The clock with hands all poised at ten!

I think a union oh so vital should
Be not halted by man's time idol.

© srilankaguardian

Unity, Harmony and Serenity

2009-02-13T03:48:00.001-08:00

By Victor Karunairajan

We speak the tongues of unity

Sinhalese, Tamil and English

The path we tread is harmony

The soul of peace we nourish

We entreat the joy of serenity

All our dear folks will cherish