Lost

Vessel was docked
Midst of deep sea
Heavy dark clouds halted around
Sea vultures boarded
Whirlwind of mourners
Swept across the shore.

Kumari Alokabandara

The poem is about a ship which has stranded in mid-sea. However, it is the ship of life which has stranded in the mid sea of life and the poet has portrayed the atmosphere of gloom and uncertainly in a convincing manner. The poet has used a down-to-earth language.

Homage

Poor Scotland is on the verge of collapse.
Brave Malcolm will bear a sword perhaps.
Is Marry still alone in "Unlighted lamps"?
Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard" in whose hands?

The books were full of "Stench of Kerosene"
while Nick attempts to write "Love Letters".
You made us alarmed with Dubliners,
left no stone unturned to teach us Shakespeare'.

Malcolm is ready to sit on the throne.
Lopakhin builds a new world of Russian.
Krishna still feels the fragrance of jasmine.
But dear sir, you quietly sleeps in a coffin.

You discussed the embelishment of his poetry,
And the writer's dexterity in word jugglery.
But we never saw the A/L exam with its gravity.
And enjoyed a sip of literature ecstacy.

Though your service went on unnoticed,
your cream of students has landed
on high ranks and pay their innocent gratitude
and silent wishes to meet you till we end this cycle of life.

Imali Bandaranayake (In remeberance of our A/L English literature master Thennakoon who passed away one year ago)

The poem is dedicated to fond memories of a teacher who selflessly served his students. The poem is not only a homage to a teacher but also to generations of teachers who moulded the young mind, enabling tbem good citizens. Such teachers are nation builders. The poet has used simple diction.

A budding incarnation

Holding on gently
On to my finger, little
A budding incarnation
Shoots, in search of light
Grows up and around
Towards the golden sun
Yet holding on to my soul
Someone, holds on so tight

Quenching the thirst
Of the foregone emotions
Feeling your petals
With utmost devotion
I am forever
Your, fountain, your notion
Of life, your destiny
Never'd let you be frozen

Sankhapadma Weerasinghegunawardana

The poem is about a blooming flower. However, with the flower the poet is flooded with once cherished memories of a loved one. And it is an eternal love. The poet uses apt metaphors to compare the flower to someone he loved.

Morning bliss...

Morning bliss
Birds sing
Songs of paradise
early morning
God painted a beautiful dream world

Bertholamuze Nisansala Dharmasena

The poet in a couple of lines captures the sheer and rather indescribable beauty and bliss of a bright morning. The poem is in Haiku style and is noted for its brevity of expression.

Go beyond...

Go beyond humanity
You may reach divinity
Go beyond sorrow
You may receive happiness
Go beyond you
You may understand yourself

But

Don't go beyond civility
As you will be uncivilised
Don't go beyond love
As you will be an enemy
Don't go beyond the world
As you will lose your world

Get away from sin
You may draw on merits
Get rid of you

You may experience the world

Be selfish to you

World will be selfless to you

Chanchala Gangodawila

Though the poem sounds like a sermon, it is about life and reaffirms the old adage that the world is what you make and not one someone else would make for you. The world reacts to the way you treat it. The poem is noted for its short lines.

White rose in the wood

In the nocturnal silence of the dawn
I strolled into the nearby woods
Against the dark of an uneven sky,
With sun still asleep
There stood a solitary white rose,
In a miniature puddle of dew...

The stillness filled my heart with pain,
In a tremulous quivering note
Like starting symphony,
Strung in soft tranquil strain
Like the rose lost in the woods,
Enraptured I listen alone

I heard the hooting of an owl
Eerie, in the distant hills
Making loneliness more profound
As the solitary rose in the woods
An unfinished melody the wind whispered
To me and the rose as the day began ...

The dizzy heights of satiety
The tempo rose like the storm
The clashes of breakers in the ocean
In the shores beyond:
Yet, stood the white solitary rose
Unmoved, unscathed and infinite...

And the emptiness of tomorrow
The finale to listless dreams,
As of the other roses that preceded,
Leaving behind a solitary rose
The crashing crescendo of time, wiped
The single white rose of the wood

Gwen Herat

The poet skilfully makes use of the metaphor lonely white rose to compare it to a lonely life. Now what surrounds the life of the poet is emptiness or voice created by departed friends and relations. The poet's lonely life is similar to the white rose and the time will also wipe this single rose out. Time devours everything both animate and inanimate things. The poem is noted for its brilliantly encoded profound philosophy of life.

Forgotten memories

Remembering the memories once had,
Now how distant it seems,
As if it was in another life time,
Another universe
Some memories once you thought was beautiful,
Has faded, moments forgotten,
That feeling of belonging is not there anymore,
Once, it was something you would never even dream of forgetting,
But now it has become something you chose to forget,
And finally succeeded,
People whom you treat with extra care,
Have become a spec, a diminutive
We exist,
Forgetting those MEMORIES...

Dakshima Haputhanthri

The poem is about forgetting one's memories. As time goes on, those memories would go into oblivion,some willingly others unwillingly. What the poet strikes home is that the time would change everything; the relationships, memories and objectives of life.

How long ...

how long we hold our hands together
in this long road of life
even though we are not so close
in every moment of our life
it made a great bridge
between us
our friendship

in that invisible bridge
we share our tears
and smiles
we care each other
we never feel loneliness
"coz of that bond
it goes on and on
until the end
as best friends....

Umesh Moramudali

The poem is about a life-long friendship which makes the world a wonderful place to live in. The poem is noted for its short lines.

The subway...

"Many walk in this subway,
With hopes to end their journeys,
few find their way without a sigh,
but some with a lot of sighs,

Towards the light they all move,
with hopes to begin a new journey,
some stop and await,
While some walk forward,

In this subway...

Tharindu Jayamanna

Using the metaphor of Subway, the poet expresses his views on the journey of life and how diverse persons undertake it in different ways. The poem is noted for its brevity of expression.