Dedication**
By: Mahesh Munasinghe - April, 2009
I am all alone here,
at this round-about.
All of them,
All the men and women
The group of professionals,
Intellectuals, poets and authors
Those who are called themselves,
Socialistic, democratic and radical
have left me here…
Most of them were taken away
Strayed as media prey
Some of them willingly
Some have escaped..
Some were disappeared
And some were shot dead…
All are gathered
there, at the next round-about
attracted to the radiance of celebration
born from lunacy of war…
This is the moment of victory..
The air gets vibrant
with the resonance of applause,
firecrackers , fireworks
The excited Sinhalese are getting warm
With the growing figures of dead
They gazed at me with disgust
As I stood, silently with this placard,
I was called a lunatic
Whenever my voice was raised,
I was attacked
I was called a traitor.
Whenever I became active,
I was arrested
I was called a terrorist.
“Kill and die!
For a sparkling tomorrow of my motherland!”
The bitter lie…,
further assures that,
“The war is humanitarian.
It brings peace.”
Hindus, who can’t recognize
the blood of your own people,
your bullet will bring more comfort to me…
Christians and Islamic followers,
If you have just finished the confession,
Your shot won’t loose its target…
Buddhists, devoted to Buddha,
if the bullet released for the sake of your creed,
You are absolutely sinless…..
Tomorrow some one will come ,
remove this placard with slogans
from my stiffened lifeless fingers
and bury me somewhere…
I won’t be here anymore,
At this round-bout
to listen to the exultant applaud
I won’t see the tomorrow
of the children of hatred
Of those who died
till the last Sinhalese
willing and wishing the death
till the end of the last Tamil
Yet,
Another one still loves humanity
Regardless the race, caste and religion
will come from somewhere
And raise this placard
dropped from my fingers
At the same round-about…
This is what written there…
Stop war!
Stop racial elimination!
Then I will see
from those who remained,
still alive,
one by one ,
would be moving back to him.…
By: Mahesh Munasinghe - April, 2009
I am all alone here,
at this round-about.
All of them,
All the men and women
The group of professionals,
Intellectuals, poets and authors
Those who are called themselves,
Socialistic, democratic and radical
have left me here…
Most of them were taken away
Strayed as media prey
Some of them willingly
Some have escaped..
Some were disappeared
And some were shot dead…
All are gathered
there, at the next round-about
attracted to the radiance of celebration
born from lunacy of war…
This is the moment of victory..
The air gets vibrant
with the resonance of applause,
firecrackers , fireworks
The excited Sinhalese are getting warm
With the growing figures of dead
They gazed at me with disgust
As I stood, silently with this placard,
I was called a lunatic
Whenever my voice was raised,
I was attacked
I was called a traitor.
Whenever I became active,
I was arrested
I was called a terrorist.
“Kill and die!
For a sparkling tomorrow of my motherland!”
The bitter lie…,
further assures that,
“The war is humanitarian.
It brings peace.”
Hindus, who can’t recognize
the blood of your own people,
your bullet will bring more comfort to me…
Christians and Islamic followers,
If you have just finished the confession,
Your shot won’t loose its target…
Buddhists, devoted to Buddha,
if the bullet released for the sake of your creed,
You are absolutely sinless…..
Tomorrow some one will come ,
remove this placard with slogans
from my stiffened lifeless fingers
and bury me somewhere…
I won’t be here anymore,
At this round-bout
to listen to the exultant applaud
I won’t see the tomorrow
of the children of hatred
Of those who died
till the last Sinhalese
willing and wishing the death
till the end of the last Tamil
Yet,
Another one still loves humanity
Regardless the race, caste and religion
will come from somewhere
And raise this placard
dropped from my fingers
At the same round-about…
This is what written there…
Stop war!
Stop racial elimination!
Then I will see
from those who remained,
still alive,
one by one ,
would be moving back to him.…
** This is dedicated to the handful of people in the country who stand against the racial elimination.
Translated by: Kalpana Ambrose
Translated by: Kalpana Ambrose
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