Dream down under

In my dreams you enter the autumn rain
That grips with age.

On the wayside ageing lilac,
Strange flowers with faded colours
Of the mute Indian Ocean we crossed.

The wind murmurs as I sigh
And the raindrops are heavy
Like the tears I shed over for our journey!

I am still convalescing
After the voyage,
My sorrows settle
In another labyrinth
Of loneliness.

Throughout the night
Dead memories fly
Through old windows.
Suddenly I realise
I am far away;
Down under!

Lifeless memories thicken
And mix with darkness in this room
Like kalu dodol .

I am frozen in the present
Unable to find my way back home
Through the mute Indian Ocean again. Sunil Govinnage

The poet in a poignant verse recalls the loss of motherland and the inheritance of rich experiences. The dead experiences are the only emotional baggage that is now left after leaving the land of birth, Sri Lanka. The poet codifies the profound experience of unbearable loneliness that he encounters almost everyday in his adapted motherland. But only the mute sea connects him to the forgotten memories and rather cheerful life he spent in the motherland. This is one of the best poems to come from a Sri Lankan expatriate writer.

The poem is marked for its brevity in expression and sparing use of metaphors like 'Kalu dodol' from the motherland. One such local cookies would evoke not only the poet's personal memoirs associated with the motherland but also a gamut of memories of a now forgotten generation and the life which is part of contemporary history of Sri Lanka. - Indeewara Thilakarathne

No more!

I can still remember
When we peeped through the window pain
I saw beautiful flowers surrounded by colourful butterflies
I heard river was murmuring with her bluish water
The birds sang at the edge of the branches
When I closed my eyes I felt,
Calmness and quietness of Mother Nature.

A huge greenish mountain was shining brightly
With reflecting sunbeams.
A miraculous rainbow could be seen above the sky.

Now, those are only a dream to me.
I can see buildings everywhere
No greenish trees so no singing birds
Not even colourful butterflies
But newly born machines everywhere,
Which blunt human faculty

Also there are machines that help mankind
But the bluish river changes into black
In spite of fish it welcomes garbage
Sweet scents of flowers are chased away.
Devil of noise wedded with she-devil of polluted gas
While they rule the city they handout
Fatal disease and plagues everywhere
Which affect not only humans but also animals

So, greenish mountains and bluish sky is no more!
So, calmness and quietness of nature is no more!
So, healthy and peaceful humans are no more! Santhushti Ekanayake

The poem is an indictment against environment pollution. It is none other than man himself who destroyed Mother Nature. The poet laments over the loss of beauty. Instead of lush greenery emerges a concrete jungle infested with condominiums and industrial complexes. The poet uses common place metaphors to describe the splendour of Mother Nature. He uses a down-to-earth language. However, the tone of reporting, at times, disturbs the sequence. The poem would have been more effective if the poet had been brief in expressing his ideas. - Indeewara Thilakarathne

True friendship

Whom do I call friend?
Someone I meet very often
Talking without reaching
Any form of understanding?
But talking to dispel
A silence we both distrust
Or is it someone
I meet after a long silence
Picking up from where we had left off
Talking
As if there never had been
Any lapse in time
Nor any loss in silence?

 - Punyakante Wijenaike

Here the poet expresses in a subtle manner, the meaning of true friendship. True Friendship is hardly definable. Is it someone who talks to you always your true friend? Or is it someone whom you meet after a long time yet commences from where left off, a true friend? However, the old adage 'A friend in need is a friend in deed' is someone who refused to die even in this globalised era.

 - Indeewara Thilakarathne