Where is Ravi?

He is late
He's late leaving home
Late to arrive
He's got stuff to do
(who doesn't?)
Stuff at home
To cook and clean
Wash and dress
Feed, make comfortable
Place water and lunch
On a bedside table;
Late to go home
To his mother.

He's out on an assignment
Who can tell what it is?
He's gone, but
No one knows where
We'll know when he's back
If we are still here.

Where's Ravi?
He's got a court date
He has a camera to repair
He has tests to take
Reports to get
Pain to endure
A smile he cannot stop
Children he hardly saw
Strength that ebbed
Love that shone
And tears to draw
From eyes that never saw him
Die.

Noble Crossover

From this side to that
of street and delight
answer to a necessity-call
on lines demarcated
give or take a foot or two
as directed by sign
adhered to
in the manner of civility
the go and come
of human commerce
the musts
of moment’s compulsion
sacred
noble
in these times
of comings and goings
across vague lines
from cesspit to cesspit
but claimed as
hell-to-heaven move.









[Inspired by the photography of Ravindra Dharmatilleka]

Buddhang Saranang Gacchami

From Arahat Mahinda

to Gangaramaya and now

there are centuries and histories

ancient paths and newer feet

but flame is flame

belief is belief

from that Poya to this

and to days and sorrows

yet to come

for word was word

is and will be word.

Inspired by the photography of Ravindra Dharmathilake

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The ‘more-to-it’ of dance and dancer

So you want sword turned

into ploughshare and industry

hatred into love

and new destiny

soft word for harsh

an upturning of the earth

in war’s aftermath?

Then look!

This is dance

the movement of arms

outlawed and undergrounded

and in that elegant transliteration

read if you will

affirmation of life over death

voice over silence

the resilience of a people

underestimated at cost.  


Inspired by the photography of Ravindra Dharmatilleka

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Dimensions of Sight

Sight was for reading

the faraway and near

the large and small

limited incarcerations

and beyond-boundary imprisonment;

sight is for length

breadth and breathlessness

depth of dive

and discernment

the cross-pollination

of real and perceived

the dreamscapes

that fracture and re-make

the pinhead

of pindrop silences

sea-drop and sky-drop;

sight is for shut-eye seeing

for gather and scramble

in the unincarcerable

freedom to read. 

[Inspired by the photography of Ravindra Dharmatilleka]

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Dipena tama-dhamsina

Vesak

in these glittering times
of spectacle and flush
volume and insistence
is competition inscribed,
and yet in the compelling
in finish and provoking
of oohs and aahs
let it be said also
there’s crafting and frill
the meticulous and veneration;
there are fingers here
eye and heart
delight in process and product
and faith every inch of the way
colored by ethics of giving
rejoicing in obtained joys
there’s dana, sila and bhavana
cognizance of eternal verities
and affirmation of the collective
murmured in the timeless chant,
sabbe satta bhavantu sukhitatta.

[Inspired by the photography of Rukshan Abeywansha and Ravindra Dharmatilleka]

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A sidelines story

A six is six when umpire raises hands
in classical surrender
a six is six in the scorer’s book,
a wicket is wicket
in wicked index finger point
a wicket is wicket
in scorer’s book,
but this side and that
of six and dismissal
the bat-ball game erupts
in the colors of anticipation
the vibrant lines of celebration,
splutters in crazy wig
marks the cheek
roars like lion
groans in disbelief:
cricket
is a sidelines game;
more so
in these spectacle days.

[Inspired by the photography of Ravindra Dharmatilleka]

 

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