Poetry speaks eloquently

by Charith Perera

Poetry is what gets lost in translation-Robert Frost
poem is never finished, only abandoned. -Paul Valéry
Poetry is nearer to vital truth than history. -Plato, Ion
Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world. -Percy Byshe Shelley

“It is still night
Yet the Eastern sky
Is slashed by the first faint
turquoise light
Of dawn. And against the high
Quick paling wheel the birds-
Black and almost static in their
flight
Etched against the opalescence
camber;
And then the opalescent turns
to amber,
Mauve, gold and blue,
And trembling through
A web of colour spun
By mist and dew
Rises the sun”

It was with these beautiful and evocative lines from Anne Ranasinghe’s poem ‘Colombo’ that the evening of poetry readings titled ‘A Verse Speaking Recital’ commenced at Sri Lanka’s national poet Anne Ranasinghe’s residence in Colombo. Then the silent poems began to speak eloquently through the young and the enthusiastic voices of boys and girls who were the winner of the Sri Lanka Festival for the Performing Arts.

This year’s focus of the festival was on poetry by Sri Lankan national poet Anne Ranasinghe. The finals of the Sri Lanka Festival for the Performing Arts and the award ceremony were held with British High Commissioner in Sri Lanka John Rankin at the Tourist Board.

Like the famous speech by Mark Anthony at Julius Caesar’s funeral, it is only when read out loud that poetry begins to speak eloquently. When the boys and girls rendered their voices to breathe life into poetry, it begins to speak aloud articulating their intrinsic meanings, diverse shades of colours and voices which may not manifest reading poetry silently, in isolation, turning pages at the wink of one’s finger tips.

Emotions

The young performers who recited poetry had not only done justice to the poems they recited but also articulated subtle emotions in them. Significantly, each recital, some instance, of the same poem articulated different tones and voices.

Except two poems, ‘Pike’ by Ted Hugh recited by Abishek Suppiah and ‘A Moment of Madness’ recited by Branavasoruby Sivabalaratnam (own composition), the rest of the poems recited were Anne Ranasinghe’s poems. The selection was apt. It was clear that students had not only byhearted the poems but also were trained well to render their voices to the verses in a way that brought out scheme of emotions and myriad of senses of the verses.

Character of a city

David Fonville recited the poem ‘Colombo’ which is one of the evocative poems by Anne Ranasinghe.

The poet has portrayed the typical character of the city of Colombo masterly employing visual and auditory images. One of the salient characteristics of the poem is its use of visual imagery such as imageries of light and colour. The poet has, in fact, poured colours into the verse as a talented photographer capturing a character of a city in a photo-essay.

What is noteworthy in the selection is that the children would eventually enjoy the sheer beauty of the verse in addition to improving their skills in speech and performance.

Teachers in general and Adjudicators Philip Thrupp and Jonathan Owen who visited Sri Lanka to judge the Sri Lankan Festival for Performing Arts in particular deserve a bouquet for selecting the best performers from the overwhelming number of applicants from diverse parts of the country.

In fact, there were 6000 applications and the process of adjudication would really have been tough. A significant aspect of the poem is that it is not only a brilliant poem by Sri Lankan national poet Anne Ranasinghe but also one of the best poems ever written on the character of a city. The poet has portrayed the city of Colombo in a single day from break of the dawn to night fall.

“Colombo

Anne Ranasinghe recites her poems

It is still night
Yet the Eastern sky
Is slashed by the first faint
turquoise light
Of dawn. And against the high
Quick paling wheel the birds-
Black and almost static in their flight
Etched against the opalescence
camber;
And then the opalescent
turns to amber,
Mauve, gold and blue,
And trembling through
A web of colour spun
By mist and dew
Rises the sun.

All too soon

The fragile morning ripens to a noon
Of sun-backed houses shimmering
in the heat,
Their shadows flung across the
sun-pulsating street
In quivering pools; all colour drowned
In this harsh glittering,
stone-refracted glare
That without pity
Emasculates the city.
Then as day curves back into night
There comes a moment
Of stillness suspended
Before the sun sets finally.
A crystallisation
Of glowing colour-
Translucent blossoms the pallor
Of marble,
The silver spears of grasses;
Ripples of deep green trees
Lapis lazuli
The sea,
Crested with the faintest shade Of jade
And white the surf
Edging the oceanic curve
Towards a mazarine horizon-Cameos
Cut in light And now, the night-
An all enclosing velvet endlessness Of black. Shadows that press
And stretch and flow- a silver

stream;
And stars that gleam White
And aloof
And from behind the moon-edged roof
In swooping flight
Membraneous wing-like fingers spread
The silent grey nocturnal bat. “

A significant characteristic of Anne Ranasinghe’s poetry is her ability to write poetry for children conveying profound ideas in simple diction. ‘Origami’ is one of Anne Ranasinghe’s poems which was recited by K.H Dilki M. Perera and Methmi Samarajeewa.

“Origami

This poem
is written on a very fine paper
fold it
into small birds
and let them fly down the face of the
mountain
and may be the wind
will carry them back to me
or make an origami boat
set it afloat in the clear and cold

spring

which bubbles from the silent rock
amid those strange and lovely
blossoms
You speak of. Let it sail down to the
valley and maybe the sea

will carry it back to me”

The collection of poems for the recital was rich and included some of the best poems by Anne Ranasinghe. One among them was the ‘Museum Piece’ recited by Mathuvashini Muraleetharan.

“Museum Piece-Sigiriya Ear Ornament

What delicate ear hosted this ornament?

Was she beautiful, this lady,
Swaying her days through the windy galleries,
Was she haughty or gentle? Maid Or Courtesan?

And what thoughts as she waited
High on rock

In the marble-white palace with jewelled finials,
Glancing down perhaps on the
flickering wicks-
A hundred wicks flickering, deep,deep below

Where the jungle night flowed
A black impenetrable river
Did she resent her confinement?
Or was it love?
He plays with her hair,

His restless hands span her
slender throat-
Time flares-

They span the centuries
As one god-faceted ear ring

Drops
Sentries of the jungle night
Do not sleep
Narrow is the edge of your vigil,
Steep
The fall –

Did your hand not tremble
As you painted your dream on the wall
Of your face?
Beware
The enemy is near
Out of another life Out of vague
And distant time
One

Ear ornament”

This was also a brilliant piece of poetry inspired by an ‘Ear Ornament’. The poet has recalled the story of maidens in the citadel of Sigiriya. Sigiriya has inspired many poets to write poems on Sigiriya and maidens supposed to make it a pleasure garden. The ‘Ear Ornament’ at the museum rekindles the poet’s rich imagination to picture the beautiful maiden who wore it in Sigiriya during its glorious days. The poet recalls the ‘Ear Ornament’ would have been survived following the fall of Sigiriya into enemy hands.

The poem ‘Night of the Tropical Storm’ was one of the evocative poems which recreates the ambiance of a tropical storm in a night. It was recited by Maureen T. Fernando.

“The night of the tropical storm
Vaulting sheets of rain
Tore through the trees, driven
by wind
So fierce that their high leafy
crowns
Twisted and tangled as they swayed
and bent
Under green forks of lightning
Strangely they all survived

Except my more than bush and not
yet tree
Grown from a seed found in the
royal pleasure garden,
Its blossom candles flickering
red fir among the feathery foliage
and swinging spiky long brown

pods, there was a regal glory about
this glowing bush against the mossy
wall.

The morning after
I found it slumped, shapeless and

pitiful-

dead at my feet, blossoms already
withered, its naked roots protruding
shamelessly from the ripped soil,
A rain-washed sun shed
honey-colure light while squirrels
played wild games through
splintered branches
cracking the pods and scattering
small hard seeds.”

The poem is a masterly recreation of a night of a tropical rain. Rain in the tropics is quite different to rain in other parts of the world. The poet has skillfully portrayed a night of a tropical rain. Characteristics of such a torrential rain are effectively captured using diverse imageries. The poem stands out for its economy of expression. It is obvious that children and even the adults who participated in the poetry reading would have enjoyed the feast of masterly crafted poems by Sri Lankan’s national poet Anne Ranasinghe.

Hasitha Pathirana’s music added much –needed musical element to the evening of poetry.

What is noteworthy in the selection is that the poetry would not only sharpen children’s presentation and performing skills, they would, eventually, enrich children’s lives and enhance their literary skills.

Among memorable poems recited at the event included some of the best poems by Sri Lankan national poet Anne Ranasingeh. Some of them were ‘ Colombo’, ‘Museum Piece’, ‘Somewhere in my house’, ‘Night of the Tropical Storm’, Polonnaruwa’, ‘ Mascot and Symbol’, ‘ Origami’ and ‘ And sometimes too the moon’.

David Fonville presented a medal to Anne, conferring her honorary Fellowship of the Institute of Music Speech and Speaking Skills.

The group of children who recited poems were from some of the leading schools in Colombo such as Ladies’ and Bishops while some others were from Chilaw and Negombo.

Children who took part in the poetry recital were Abishek Suppiah, Anudhi Ekanayake, Thehara Jayasinghe, A A F Dilshath Rukshana, Hamsajini Ganeshalingam, Fathima Yasla, A A F Jumana Farhath, Hirun Jayanath, Navindu Weerasinghe, K H Dilki M Perera, Methmi Samarajeewa, Zerik Zakeer, Vikash Kannan, Maureen T Fernando, Vishal Fernando, Erangi de Mel, Mathuvashini Muraleetharan, and Branavasoruby Sivabalaratnam.