Kitulgala

I know a place amidst the hills

Where the waters flow

Starting from high up above

To the sea it flows

But while it flows across this place

It fails to link it still

With whither it may flow from

Or where it flows not still

It holds a quiet serene charm

That makes you sigh in bliss

Close your eyes in rapture

Welcome sun’s warm kiss

Let the waters lap your feet

With cool yet loving ease

In the quiet of its charms

You’ll seek eternal peace

Where the sun when at its worse

Still fails to change in hue

The green grass and foliage

Thick and full of dew

To drain all water from the stream

Through bitter heat or drought

This place I know can still survive             

Its beauty is harmed naught

Where anyone who likes to dream

Can sit and dream all day

And not feel they should do something

To pass the time of day

That’s the part that I love best

Where nature always thrills

A not so well-known quiet place

Amidst the blue green hills

I tried to pray

I tried to say

A prayer for you

But found myself

Sucked dry of prayer

My capacity for it

Took wings

With my innocence

Not long ago

Leaving me

Repugnant

To prostrate

Before a God

Or higher being

I no longer believed in

Instead

I send you

Thoughts

Of unimaginable fondness

To spin a cocoon round you

And shield you

With their strength

From

All harm

To be a tree

I want to be

Like a tree

Steady

Externally

Internally

Yet I know

That a tree

Is far from steady

All its cellular activity

Culminating

In minute changes

That it seems

To be steady

Outwardly

                                                                                                            

Maybe

That’s what I want

For the inevitable changes

To be

Minute

For my favourite Aunt

You ask me

Of the verse

You made me promise

To write for you

And I want so much to write

How can I

When I know I can’t

Put down in writing

All I feel about you

What you are to me

Shall I just tell you instead

That you are

The only one I know

Who growing old in age

Has not lost

The untouched innocence

Of early youth

Like a fresh and unsoiled breeze

Blowing gently

In this polluted world

And of course that I love you

That I want you to be

Just be there

For me

A selfish need

For so many other reasons too

 Most of all

Because in your frail body

I see life

In its liveliest form

Bubbling

I must tell you too

That I rarely write for people

And prefer something abstract

So my inadequacy

At expressing

All I feel

Will not show

Aluth Avurudu Eve (1978 )

(New Years Eve)

After the 1977 Anti Tamil  Violence, my friend's house burned and she moved in with us. Paralysed, grandmother carried by another friend who was visiting. First 1958  and now 1977. 

For them...

Tomorrow

To please my mother

Looking in the right direction

At the auspicious time

I will bite

Into that rectangle

Of compressed rice

I have nothing against our customs

Only nothing

To celebrate

No eager looking forward

To what is left

Of the year

The sound of crackers

Drives

Our otherwise bold

Vagabond of a dog

To me

To press his head urgently

Against my knee

Till I smooth away

His seemingly ridiculous

Fears

But I too wish

Though not in fear

That they would

Stop

Fire Walking (1992)

We were fire-walking

Over

Smoldering

Tyres

Some

Danced

Over the

Heat

The trance persists

They’re dancing still

No burns

On the thick skin

Underfoot.

The rest are scarred

Unforgettable

That glimpse

Into another dimension of man

- INHUMAN

Hair (A very short love poem)

When you are there

I want to comb my hair

For you

If your hair is combed

I want to reach out

And gently dishevel it

For me