Ves!

Rites of passage

through passages

of time

marked by feet

so grounded

they had to move

to drumbeat and chime

both wrought 

from custom 

the things that last

and last

things that make pathway

and journey

dance-things

that delight

dance-things 

of singular meditation,

but this, 

for now

is a young boy’s moment

where emotions collapse

into the intangibles

caught in a hand clasp

so elusive

and yet not un-owned. 

[inspired by the photography of Rukshan Abeywansha]

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After the sun rises…

And that which begins with black

yields to gold

and then to blue

and by and by

we are rainbowed

into and out of

our miseries and loves;

sundrop does not stay

but touch warms

if we open heart-doors

to receive and give.

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Once the sun rises…

Once it does,

the rising sun buries waiting

and in a deft flipping of chart

wrecks and reinvents color and line

dresses detail and depth into silhouette

one peep and you can wait no more

not for rising sun

and yet there’s waiting unforbidden

the sun says so

every morning

to coffee-in-hand people

sitting in waiting land.

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The Art of War

[Angampora]

Fight is fight

when heart is hard

fight is not fight

when must-do things

are divested of passion;

nothing can distract

or detract

gaze is made of focus

movement of economy -

that’s meditation

a transcending 

of kill for joy of killing

the ill-gotten ways

of human history

where desecration is 

name of game;

but this is rehearsal

a dance 

a performance 

of things out of step

with brutality and plunder

and yet

this is how wars have been won

centuries ago and yesterday too,

this is known

though un-acknowledged. 

[Inspired by the photography of Rukshan Abeywansha]

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Prabuddha XX*

When perishes

all treasure houses of knowledge

gathered through the ages,

when stops

all thoughts

the conjuring of images

and the commerce of words,

then alone it arises

and never upon command

that state above states

that jhana

like a river that breaks banks

and overflows

and like the music of silence. 

Lying down on a bed

the perfect stillness

receives visitor –

a bell tolls

from a distant temple

the ring

it stayed

and left by and by

leaving nothing behind.

For a moment the mind stopped.

Look!

This morning

this day of Enlightenment

the ascension of Siddhartha Gauthama the Buddha,

this public holiday

all citizens stay home,

homes built

in competition

with one another

and according to ability,

where the earth is parceled out

divided into pieces

thirty, thirty-five or forty perches

encased in barbed wire

seven-eight rounds

reinforced with high walls

brick upon brick

of reinforced incarceration

replete with gate and iron lock

they burned their days

inside the prisons

they themselves built. 

The fiery sun having set

the full moon arose

brighter than usual

plump in full sphericality

and one by one

here and there

there was lighting of lantern

colored glow

wavering through foliage

swaying from sunshade.

I stepped out.  Looked.

Was amazed!

Bathed in the blessed glow

of a myriad Vesak lanterns

barbed wire and wall

that had carved up the earth

they were all gone

disappeared!

The world is one seamless open field.

Earth and sky

tree, branch and leaf

everything, everything

for a moment rendered

as a property commonly held

belonging to us all

in a moment.

Sukho Buddhanang Uppado

The birth of a Buddha is cause indeed for happiness.

Prisoners imprisoned

step out into the streets

and in a magnificent movement

of the multitude

flow and flow

towards the viharaya

as one. 

The exalted cry

of one and all

he hears

for a moment.

Gaha karaka dittosi

Punna gehang naka hasee!

Architect!

Thou art seen

Thou shalt not build this house again.

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*[This is the twentieth part of the translation of Mahagama Sekera's epic poem 'Prabuddha', an exercise that has the permission and blessings of the immediate family of Mahagama Sekera. Parts I, II, III, IV, V, VI , VII, VIII,  IX, X , XI, XII, XIII, XIV, XV, XVI, XVII,  XVIII and XIX can be found in www.malindapoetry.blogspot.com.]