ODE TO ERASED GRAFFITI [on Sigiriya]

Scattered archaeology:

tell me of heroic times,

tell me of battles and surrender,

the meeting of version

and tapestries that resulted.

Relate your War and Peace,

the matters of the state,

the governance of humours,

the reconciliation with frailties.

Architect, engineer, interior-decorator:

awake from the sleep of brick and mortar,

correct the flaws of transcription.

Brick-layer, etcher of fantasy, water-giver,

you most of all:

rise from the resurrection of madman and saint,

gather from dust and paint

the traces of footprint and obliteration,

and narrate in your choice of metaphor,

the meta-narratives of labour,

the sweat that didn't get told,

the wavering signature of heartache,

and where they paused to rest

in the gardens of paradise.

Tell me also, in song or silence,

In whisper or shout,

the terms of compensation,

the occupational hazards,

the loves of the depicter of beauty,

the irrelevancies so decreed

the texture of cooked incompatibilities,

the hiding place at wilting

of the flower-bringer's fragrance,

the questions never asked

contestations never articulated,

the story of submission and resistance,

those little pieces of meaning made meaningless.

Colossus,

artifact and monumental cultural objectification,

this is an incomplete petition

and poorly written

in the broken English that I know.

But list for me now

the names of all those things born of your womb:

the irreverent progeny edited out by historian,

the defiant woman who did not apply for a colour-line version,

the unhappy prince who could not purchase loyalty or love,

the supplier of pigment whose contract was terminated.

Record for me the things

that perhaps by-passed the passer-by

the regent of many coronations

and indeed his many political biographers,

for there's a broken heart whose million pieces lament,

whose sorrows gurgle incoherence

in subterranean banishment,

a sad, scattered piece of flesh and longing

that awaits breath

for breathing and resurrection.