Poetry
A firefly
“All the fireflies in the world
are gathered in our yard tonight….”
Lisel Mueller-Cavalleria Rusticana
Gathered in Mueller’s yard, the fireflies last night,
Held their first World Summit;
A serious talk they held on climate change; then agreed
Illegal migrations to limit.
Stranded accidentally on a cobweb on home flight,
An attendee confided this to me;
Alas! Little else could I learn before a spider took him
Whom we’d been too absorbed to see.
- Jayashantha Jayawardhana
The real poet
A rare unusual perception
From which he explores
The regions of unseen
Layers of common faculties
And brings forth
Vivid and realistic perspectives
That pleases and disillusions
The soul and mind
Of the weary traveller
In this world of uncertainty!
- Jayalath Basnagoda
Sri Lanka
When the ocean
Is silently crying
My eyes got wet
With tears
Through the clouds
Through the wind
I departed from you
But I love you
As long as I live
My dear Sri Lanka
- Van Arkadie Manoj Rome/Italy
When you experience Darkness and Light
For an instant when you close your eyes,
Seeking freedom through hard walls,
You here hundreds and thousands of calls
Asking you to believe the lies.
That lies are sweet and also light,
Of your own measurement, your own scale;
You can change it as you wish and let it sail
As far as it likes within your sight…
But the instant your eyes are opened,
The second you see the world around
You feel ashamed of the dreams you found,
Understanding that you’ve been conned.
Your mind thinks higher, farther and deeper;
For your eyes aren’t closed and you can see.
And yet again the lids shut – you find the key
To unfasten a dream and coil round like a creeper.
- Hasini Rupasinghe
Verses of solitude
At the times
Bewitching moon
Unveiled her beauty
I breathed her whole spirit
To chase you away…
At the times
Golden sun
Poured down his rays
I jumped with a cheer
To keep you away…
I dipped my paint brush
In tears and made paintings
To pass the hour…
To escape from you…
I wrote hundreds
Hundreds of verses…
On papers with my tears…
Thinking that you will leave me…
Wearied off
I called upon death
To wind up in peace…
Yet when
Heart was paining against the truth seen…
When heart was beating for a hope unseen…
Loneliness…
I realized that I failed.
- Yasomi Gurusinghe
Undecided whether to cry
Drops welling on either eye,
Undecided whether to cry,
Should they roll down?
Should they just, stay and frown?
Know not, what has happened,
Know not, what has ended,
What to hope, I don’t know,
What to cherish, that, I know
Confused, forsaken, was that what happened?
Do I grieve? Has my purpose ended?
Drops welling on either eye,
Undecided whether to cry.
- Vishmi Wijeratne
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