To be or not to be

To be is to feel, give and love
Even the most despicable ones.
To be is to bloom like an inward flower,
Always blooming to the sun.
To be is to glow in the midst of thousand others,
Like a pearl amidst the swine...
Not to be is to give only to take,
A thousand fold back,
To thrive mercilessly amongst the dying poor,
And to smile the outward smile,
And lie like the serpent underneath it.

Krishanthi ANANDAWANSA

Meena, the gypsy girl

Meena is a gypsy girl,
Beautiful like a shining pearl,
I met her at the bus stand,
With a violin in her left hand.

She is of medium height,
In a saree and a blouse white,
With long bright hair,
Braided into thick plaits pair.
The song she sang was so nice,

I felt she deserved a prize,
Slowly she got into the bus,
And came to us without any fuss.

Meena is from a family of four,
And is begging to give it a go,
For her father dead and gone,
Before her twin brothers were born.

Some people are reluctant to give,
A coin or two for them to live,
But we all are born to die,
Like that poor gypsy guy.

Davidson GOONETILLEKE

Thy sorrow

Oh Kuveni, thy sorrow,
Oh Kuveni, thy lament,
The king who abandoned you,
To the darkness,
to the wilderness,
Your own kith and kin,
Their betrayal, to your very end;
Hopefully this land is forgiven,
For all these sins,
Since something divine is above us all.

Shanthi RUBAVATHI VIVEKANANTHAN

Fiddler on the roof

Fiddler on the roof
Playing his melody
It is sweet and stunning
I am mesmerized
When I close my eyes
The melody still reverberates
The fiddler's tune
Makes me blissful
When I listen to the fiddler
I forget time and place

Dr. Ruwan M. JAYATUNGE

Hail the female

Honour be to you woman, for your dauntless courage,
In facing the odds bravely from age to age!
You crossed the social barriers that hid your image,
As an equal to man in almost every passage.
Suffering torture from the prejudices of male,
you were determined once to balance the scale.
Despite the throes of the duties of a female,
you've levelled the race now removing the veil!
You shone as mother and behaved as daughter,
you equalled as wife and stood by as sister.
Teacher, doctor, professor, the writer,
you climbed all rungs up to the top-o' the ladder!
Now it's not the sight or it's not the lust,
that one should seek in a female's bust.
Look deep into it and see the unsighted must.
a heart that fits for a great philanthropist!

Bandara SAMARAKOON

Won the skies

When at noon the day stood still,
Under the dapple shadowed bush,
Birds of a feather flocked around,
their feather-soft young one.
"To take his maiden flight" they said,
All chirping and chatting,
Standing on tip toes,
Spreading their wings apart,
Clapping them fast.
"Just look at us - it's so easy",
But the meek mild fellow with a vacant look,
Scampering on wing and claw,
Spreading its wings fluttering so fast,
Tried in vain again and again.
Two elders standing on either side,
Cuddling the frustrated,
"Chirp-chirp, try again"
Encouragement seeping through,
He stretched and clapped his wings,
Lifting the body up in the air!

Neela WITHANAGE