Reconciliation
- Post 18 June 2012
- By Mahesh Munasinghe
Though the last breath blew away by bay breeze,
dead ones’ veins & arteries are still wet
The grisliest past slithers towards my heart,
and makes me pen about ceaseless felonies
Victorious cronies are traveling joyful trips,
and delighted by seeing war-torn zones
Seized comatose lands of slaughtered Tamils - yet bleed,
when relentless robbers flee off with their deeds
A young woman’s body is hanging in a bough
Bitten nipples and beaten breast mutely wail
Blood has seeped along feeble lower limbs,
dripped drops & splattered in August dry soil
A toddler plays hopscotch beneath the same tree
She is having enough - long and everyday grieves
She knows neither why?
the chicken crossed the road nor father was slayed…
Early in the dawn, now mother is gone
The sacred Ganesh is wiped out from the base
The land is ready to have Buddha’s bronze
Deployed Soldiers who build street shrines,
are eyeing from the far at the last night prey
Coroner is ready, the lifeless body is bringing down
The girl stops hopping and watches her missing only love
The crane is ready - the heavy statue yet to be downed
"Saadhu… Saadhu.."* - the devotees are singing aloud
Mahesh Munasinghe | 2012 May
* Reciting the term 'Saadhu' is an expression of respect and reverence of a person who clasps his hands in the gesture of worship in front of religious symbols (in Buddhism).
