Poems by Sri Lankans about life, nature, love, hate, war and many more……
Uninvited, hither we came
And, without leave, departed hence.
What reason here for agony
Other than regret, as we shall meet again?
I crossed many rivers and mountains
Obstacles overcome with nary a care.
During my earthly journey,
Hope did not hurt anyone in my path.
I plead, my friends or foes
Do not hinder my ascent to the Heavens
Thro’ love or longing, other than regret.
Remember me, as I will remember you
Across that golden shore.
– Chris Defonseka
Mothers’ hips are eroded
And her clavicles stick out.
She has had too many children
But she is still pregnant.
Her lungs are punctured
And Shred into pieces
Of ripe cloudless flesh
Only to be hidden beneath
Layers of charred rubber.
Mother breathes slowly
Slower than Chey-Stokes breathing
And she is still seething
Blood as if it were water.
Her arteries are clogged
By her own children’s bones,
Decayed by plastic
And steel cut leaves.
Mothers’ eyes are peppered
From shards of rubble
Of blown up temples
And shattered mosques.
She draws the crucifix upon her chest
And recites the Bhagavad Gita
When a storm is near.
Mother is calcifying each time
We turn into matchsticks
And heals with the azan
At the dark of dawn.
She moulds rivers of oil lamps
For her infants
lost in smoke.
Mother never cries
Even though we are gnawing away
At her nape, trying to tear ourselves
Into a dead piece of dermis.
Her neck comes loose
As does her voice
And she is beginning to whisper
Like a schizophrenic.
Mother can never live
Because she is being murdered
And grated by our own vicious palms.
As her tissues disintegrate
Before our blind eyes
We forget what it is like to be her child.
– Saduni Wanniarachchi
(A & K Literary Festival 2016 First Runner-Up)
She lay surrounded by the silver moonlight
On the dark, soft grass, staring at space
Trying to count the infinite stars
Could life be more beautiful?
Her laugh was like the summer,
It melted every cold heart
She was full of courage and determination
Her beauty won many hearts
But a real girl isn’t perfect
And a perfect girl isn’t real.
A drop of blood turns the white snow red
A speck of dust turns pure water brown
She had troubles, sorrows and burdens too
For the world is not a wish granting factory
Now she lay on crisp, scratchy white sheets
Imprisoned by the dull walls of a hospital ward
There were dreams and plans for her future,
Her path to success had not yet been stepped on
Till the doctor told her gravely,
She had only one hour more
Tears did not flow from her bright eyes
For what good would that do?
Amidst sad goodbyes and sorrowful farewells
She drew in her last breath
Amidst wails and weepings of despair
She left to meet her king, eternal
Though she was just another patient,
One in a million deaths
Her death was mourned, her smile was longed for
A red rose, the epitome of love, trampled
The sun is missed only when it snows
She was loved only when she was let go
But shattered pieces and splinters still lie on the floor
A broken glass can never be repaired.
– Lavanya de Mel
බොල් අඳුර ගලා’විත් කවුළු දොර අබියසට
මට රවා නින්ද අරගෙන ඉගිළ යන විටක
සෙමින් එකිනෙක සැලෙන පොත් පිටු ද අතර ඔබ
කවි වැලක් සේ පෙනුනි අකුරු අතරෙහි රැඳුන
මොහොතකට කවුලු දොර දෙස බලා සිනාසුන
හිරිකඩය සුලං රැලි පෙළා මා ගත රැඳුන
හදිසියේ අවදි වුණ විලස මා ඔබ දෙසම
දෙනෙත් නොපියා බලා සිටි අයුරු දෝ මතක
පොතේ පිටු අතර රැඳි දහස් පද වැල් අතර
සිහි නොවුනි ඔබව මට මෙබඳු මොහොතක මිසක
එහෙත් මේ හදිසියේ මන්ද ඔබ මා හදට
පිවිසුනේ ඇද හැලෙන පොහොන් වැස්සක් ලෙසට
එදා අවුරුදු ගණන් පෙරදි මා ඔබ හමුව
ගෙවී ගිය සොඳුරුතම මිහිරි වූ ගී වැල්ය
දිනෙන් දින ඉරි තැලී ගිය මගේ හදවතම
අදත් ඔබ නමින් ඉඩ තවත් ඇත්තේ මන්ද
ලෝකයේ කොතැන හෝ මා නොහඳුනා තැනක
සරණු ඇත ඔබත් පෙර මතක නටබුන් අතර
ඉගිල යන පවනකට ඔබෙ හුස්ම එකලු කර
හදට සුසුමක් විලස ගලා යයි හද තුලට
මීට දිගු කලක පෙර මිහිදන්ව ගිය මතක
සොයා හද බිම කණිමි පහන් වන තුරා රැය
කොහේ හෝ නිසංසල තැනක සැඟවී යලිත්
පෙනෙයි ඔබ දහස් ගණනින් ලියූ අකුරු මැද
ආදරය තනිකඩව ඉකි බිඳින සුසානෙක
ඔබ නමින් ලියැවේවි ජීවිතේ සොහොන් කොත
පුංචි ඉටි පහනක්ව යලිත් හිත ළඟට’විත්
මතක මිටියාවතම එළිය වී හිඳිනු ඔබ….!!
– Hashintha Vidanapathirana
On a Mountain Top or a River Bank
Wherever I could fly
With much Efforts
Collect little by Little and
Carry as much as I Can
The Clay Balls
To build the Mansion in my Mind
A Window Pane or a Frame
A Wall in a Hall
Under a Chair unseen
Wherever I Lay my Clay Ball
Will be my Little Home
Day & Night I sweat, and finished it in a rush
With my Kith & Kin
With a Little Pride in my Mind
Went to hold the House Warming
When I see my house was scattered
All my Dreams were shattered
The Lady with a Broom showed no Mercy
As she swept away my Little Mansion
I was engulf with grief
My Pride was gone Mind was Torn
Dear Lady, You being my Accused
Nevertheless be my Judge
I’m pleading you to give a Little room
Shelter is a Fundamental Right after All.
– Tiny .W.Sahabandu
Sweet as honey and short as a metaphor
Stubborn in style but mighty as ever
With a sea of wisdom she guides my way
My princess is you who blossoms my day
Charmingly calm and blessed with elegance
She fulfills her routine with a touch of excellence
Enthralls my life with the majesty of her kinship
Touching my heart with love and fellowship
My pride is endless to express you’re mine
So accept this token of gratitude with shine
Now time to shout out who you are,
It’s none other than ‘You’ my darling “Achcha”
– Kalharie Pitigala
Don’t cry me a river,
When I’m gone…
as you
stare at the patterns
that my presence
has left….
“Laugh!”
It’s my wish for,
You are not gone…
Let your laughter roam
in it’s angelic form…
Sing me a song
to soothe my soul…
Close your eyes
Yet
open your heart
Don’t fall!
Point out a star
Or two for me,
Never fret
that you failed
to get me
The moon….
Don’t
Cry me a river
Don’t cry
at all..
But
LAUGH ME A SKY
where
my soul can roam….
– Phusathi Liyanaarachchi
Second by second hour by hour
Time passes the life
We smile we talk we walk together
In our faded mild life
Shaded eyes gleam with wonderful dreams
Enlightened the sorrowful naked tears
Still the thoughts pounding from a dry dead heart
Whispers the echo of lively dreams
Of enchanted love
Time passes by laughing at us
We are the passengers of life followed by the time
with wonderful dreams
With shameless hearts beautiful smiles
and feelings with dark memories
We walk among the pathway of the life with the enemies ….. Alive
Our life…………….enemies are alive
– Vindhya Ariyapperuma
මට මතක
පොඩි දවස්වල
එක දිගට
මල් පිපුණු
මහ ඉඩම
සිටුවා පපුව උඩ
කොන්ක්‍රීට් කණු
කඩා සහෝදරකමේ දම්වැල්
මීටර ගණනට
සීයලාගේ සොහොන් මැද්දෙන්
වෙන්කළ
මහ ඉඩම
නිල් දිය ඉනූ
මහ ළිඳ
දඬු මුගුරු පාවෙන-බොරදිය
මල කා දිරන
කප්පිය -පනිට්ටුව
තේජස් මහ ගෙදර
සමතලා වුණු බිම
මහ පොලොව බදාගෙන
වැවෙයි රට තණකොළ
යළි මල් නොපිපෙනා බිම
තුඹස් පමණක්ය
උනුන් පරයා නැගෙන….
– සමන් විජේසූරිය(ගොල්ගොතාවේ සීපද කාව්‍ය සංග්‍රහයෙනි)
– Chandana Sirimalwatte