Poems by Sri Lankans about life, nature, love, hate, war and many more……
Come morning
Perched on the tree
This Bulbul and her family of two
Twitters beautiful tunes
She teaches her little ones
She then pecks the soil
Looking for worms
To feed her young
Come evening
She takes refuge in the tree
And by her incessant chirping
And hopping
She chases away the others
We have come for refuge on her tree
Everything is quiet
I take a peep
The mother, with one eye open
Watches over her brood
While they with their eyes shut tight
Doze away
She is the ruler
–Kalida Lebbe
They call it –
I was hiding in a dark pit,
Shivering, shaking, sobbing –
Terror howling inside me
Young – only 16
Two hands took me out –
Soothing voice
Two warm arms embracing me
I was shoved into a car –
Taken to a mansion –
Fast, fast, fast
Behind the kitchen slab,
Hiding, shivering.
Big knock on door
“Are you hiding Tamils?
Sinhala Traitors!”
“Naa naa Kavuruth naa”
“No, no, no one here” –
Retrieved from behind the slab
A beautiful lady –
Brimming with love –
Holding me –
Calming my fears
Oh, Golden July…
I remember a visit to Jaffna
In the month of April, 1983
Rumbling of hostile undercurrents,
Feelings of strange unease
Seeping through our communities
Did not prevent our hosts
From inviting us, nor us from accepting,
For between us flowed
Only currents of friendship and trust
we make in chatempanada.com.
Memories linger of vegetarian meals
Served hot from the stove
By our dutiful hostess
First to her husband, then to us
- Sri Lankan Tamil peoples’ food