New Year resolutions!

Last year of the millennium's first decade has arrived,
In two years they say the world is going to die,
So, I have made up my mind, if they are right,
Not to have resolutions,
For which I know I never would have time.
I neither have regrets, nor pangs of guilt,
I have nothing to bemoan or to be ashamed,
I have been happy, and I have been sad,
I have met some of my goals, if not all.
I had chosen a life, quarter a life time ago,
To be free and for a love, I never had before,
Did I find it? I do not know,
Because, I do not care about such a trivial anymore.
I have seen people change,
Values lost and goals shifted,
Turning their backs on life time of beliefs,
For power and money,
Which any moral would reject.
I know I had stuck to my principles,
Despite the pressures,
I know I have a spine,
In the right position,
I can walk anywhere, at anytime without fear,
Because, never in my life, I have given trouble to the others.
I once felt anger, seeing bigotry and injustice,
I once felt miserable, seeing the rich and their fortune,
I once felt inadequacy, seeing the more successful,
Until I saw the underprivileged,
Who grovelled for a mere scrap of food.
I do not want to remind the others, that we have so little
time,
I do not want to point to the future and coax them to hasten,
I do not want to preach or advise, for them to find
salvation,
Since all are born with a mind full of intelligence,
Which they are ever ready to use only for exploitation. Inoka Makalanda

Here the poet reasons out for not having New Year resolutions. The core message of the poet is self-reliance and resistance against pleasure. It is against the backdrop of changing moral values that one has to carry on one's business. Though in plain words, what the poet wants to elaborate is that life is what you make and not what others make for you. It is up to individuals to make their lives or let others to make a life for them. -Indeewara Thilakarathne

Memories and the truth

Am I sad, why should I?
Am I happy, why should I?
Am I angry, why should I?
Am I cool, why should I?
If I am sad, I regret the role I played in my life,
If I am happy, I am content with every wrong turn I took in my life,
If I am angry, I abhor every relationship I was linked to in my life,
If I am cool, I tolerate all the injustice that I faced in my life;
Am I sorry, why should I?
Am I pleased, why should I?
Am I brave, why should I?
Am I afraid, why should I?
If I am sorry, I misjudge my beliefs,
If I am pleased, I am comfortable with my mistakes,
If I am brave, I would freely admit my failures,
If I am afraid, I am a coward to meet everybody's indubitable fate;
If I am true to myself, I am neither sad nor happy,
If I am true to you, I am neither angry nor cool,
If I am true to them, I am neither sorry nor pleased,
If I am true to all, I am neither brave nor am I afraid;
I see no angels beckoning me,
I see no evil spirits making signs at me,
All I see is a bunch of faces with concerns and smirks,
As I lay swaying between the living and the dead. Inoka Makalanda

The poem is a philosophical note enunciating the importance of being oneself and believes in self. The equanimity is a rare quality that one has to struggle to cultivate. What is important is to stand amidst the tempests of life. However, this is not to be construed as 'swaying between living and the dead'. Instead it is being aware of what happens around you. Indeewara Thilakarathne.

Let Me....

A long time it has been
I couldn't tell what I did mean
As I was then only thirteen.
If the fountain of love so serene
Now obstinately flows between
The hills and mountains green
Creating a panoramic scene;
If the buds on the bushes green
Spread their petals and lean
To show the beauty unseen
Now, let me tell what I mean! A.Jayalath Basnagoda

The poem relates a mature love. At a time when the poet was in his thirties, he could not express what he wanted. The time seems to be long. But now, as a mature lover, he seeks permission to express himself. Though written in a simple diction, the poem is successful and the poet has effectively used the metaphor comparing a tender love - Indeewara Thilakarathne