The ceremonial elopement

Auspicious moment-pure fresh flowers
Everything ceremonial and divine
Everything so sensational and so sentimental
Traditions carried out to the minute details
Subtle, punctilious - sometimes to the unbearable extremes.
Awe-inspiring "Poruwa ceremony" breathtaking
Dancers, drummers depicting the glory
The glory of the unique heritage
Sweet, soft heart soothing melodies
Amidst them high sounding un-interpretable "Pali Stanzas"
Filling hopeful hears for a prosperous future
Graceful enchanting damsels-coyly smiling
Very naive, fresh, delicate in their proud traditional dresses
They give additional beauty to the divine occasion
Amidst them-warm wishes -non-verbal messages
Tears of joy
Heaven itself on earth
Then Beelzebub, the silent messenger of Satan
Quietly, unsuspectingly emerges pretending innocent
Very shrewdly, slowly, slowly he changes
The serenity into a beguiling uproar
And does his part very discreetly
Followed by Beelzebub, Satan appears himself
With his amplified metallic sounds (Some say it is music)
In his real bold shameless form
Making everything wild
Filling the gap, Baccus enters pouring liquor
Into insatiable satanic spirits
Destroying the glorious past, tranquillity and all
Disgracing the elderly
Making their simple upbringing questionable
Then like a pack of hounds
Like an unruly mob
The uncurbed spirits
Grab the naive innocent bride into the crowd
All forget all
The young don't see the old
The old don't see the young
Both the young and old dance forgetting their age
Forgetting the graceful occasion, its serenity
In a bunch they all rock frenziedly- dance wildly
Amidst chaotic sounds, songs, music
Vulgar remarks, sugar-coated words in ambiguity
Heard in the air
At the climax the couple no longer can bear
This preparation for their marriage
Run for their vehicle-for their hurried honeymoon
The good old parents look aghast
Shocked -dumfounded-unable the apprehend the change
The un- remedied generation gap
Disgraced dismayed, they mused, with their
long-awaited supreme blessings
Yet undelivered
"What a dignified consolation if they had eloped
At night"

D. H. Shanthiratne

In this narrative poem, the poet skilfully depicts a scene at a wedding of a middle class family in Sri Lanka. The ceremonial wedding is commenced with strict adhering to the age-old customs and traditions as if to preserve them for posterity. However, hell breaks out towards the end of the wedding leading to the `Ceremonial elopement' of the couple.

- Indeewara