Poems by Sri Lankans about life, nature, love, hate, war and many more……
On the Dial of a Clock
The Struck of a Second
Is just not a Second
It’s already stolen our Lives by a second
So silently it’s passes unseen
The Cry of a Birth
Soon turn to a lament of the Death
A Youthful Laughter
Smoothly flows to a cries of an Older
No halt, nor Return
Goes Faster than the Wind
Quicker than the mind
What it takes is the Lives of Yours & Mine
– Tiny .W.Sahabandu
Grandma had mementos of the GREAT WAR
Her youngest brother had left his cozy office job
in quaint old Jaffna town to join the British
Army in Mesopotamia in 1914…
He had returned after four years of desert warfare
Grandma’s photos of her brother’s comrades
Before and after the war
Bright young faces had become haggard,
Wrinkled, old and weary, although still in their
Thirties…
Millions had perished in that war.
He returned to his job in tranquil Jaffna town,
Thankful to be alive…
– Jegatheeswari Nagendran
Colombo 05
My dear friend
Don’t worry we are friends
Good friends
We’ve much understanding
We’re helping each other
We’re sharing our feelings
When we face problems
We advise each other
Others will create trouble for us
They’ll blame us
They may misunderstand us
They’ll cheat us
They’ll bring more trouble for us
As a human being
We’ve many problems in life
We’ve our own families and children
We’ve a clear mind
We’ve good goals
We try to achieve our goals
Try to study hard
Try to work hard
Work and work hard
Try to over come all barriers
Try to reach the target
Try to help others
Somebody seems to be innocent
Don’t believe them
They’re egocentric
They’ll make things difficult for you
Beware my dearest!
My dear friend
Don’t worry
We are friends
Good friends!
-V.Thaiyeeb
The world is a
Masquerade!
Twirl and turn with care,
Hurt not anyone
Embrace your fellowmen
With bendiness!
For, behind the masks of
The masqueraders,
Lie hidden emotions,
Untold woes
And stolen happiness
Falsifying the ancient belief
“Face the mirror of the mind”
They continue to dance
With their masks on…
-Nuzha Ramzath
The loving gifts you’ve given as a father, have shaped my life, and made me the person, I am today
Your strong sense of virtues and kindness of right and wrong are all part of me
To my wonderful dad, I want to give a special gift, by penning few lines about you
So many of the good things in my life, I owe to you
The way you gave me confidence to see things through
You’ve done so much for me, showed how much you cared, the unconditional support I know it is always there
Dad you are the complete man, it shows in the way you looked at things made decisions
Helped button up a task and touch the heart
You were simply the best dad to me…
-Susheela Makalande Kathriarachchi
The bright sun peers
Through the white clouds
It’s like a gold coin
Gleaming on the snow
Flowers are dancing
Trees are smiling
Birds are singing
When they see the pretty sun
The winds breezes through
Fresh scents everywhere
Birds fly
The sunset flares
The sun, wind, birds, trees and flowers
They always make us happy
They expand
The beauty of nature
-Vishmi Kawshalya
The light of the sun is waning
The day is coming to an end
The moon in the sky is waxing
It’s light to the earth to send
Workers are walking hastily to catch
An early bus or train
Cars are speeding homewards
Right and left on every lane
Birds are flocking together
Heading towards their nests
Happy about the weather
Longing for a good night’s rest
-Elisha Gomes
Nine months in cozy womb
Now thrust into a world unknown
On seventh July nineteen seventy seven
A beautiful girl, they exclaim
What a lucky baby, lucky sevens
All the way
Mum’s songs painted a picture of
A midnight blue roof
Sparkling with glittering jets
Silken butterflies in a quest for sweet honey
Resting their svelte feet on velvet petals
Ivory pearls on an ocean bed
Guarded by stately sea horses
What are these treasures
Compared to the warmth of
A mother’s bosom
And the gentle tick of her heartbeat
Music which lulled me to sleep
For nine months
-Keerthi Wijekulasuriya
A warm July morning in Sendai
Third week in this unknown city
The people in similar attire
Walking hurriedly
Looked different
Their language, food,
Customs and sign boards
All were alien to me
The only consolation was
Multi colored cosmos flowers
And hydrangeas
By the roadside to the campus
Which filled my heart with inexplicable joy
It is in the same time of each year
That they bloomed
In our garden
It was like meeting
A long lost friend
In this unknown land
-Ayoma Wijewardena
Words are of no use
When even feelings are obscure
Going through darkness marks by scars
Just as permanent markers
Forever engraving on our skin and in our mind the followed path
Emerging unscathed is too good to be true
Bad experiences are instructive they say
At a point they destroy us
As time passes by
Until nothing matters anymore…
-Kenzi