Other floralities

The earth will bloom
in the union
of water and sun
in the cohabitation
of heart and sinew
for blindness will not color-blind
and that which war removes
life’s remnant will recover;
will fade, yes
will gather dust, yes
wilt as all things wilt
die as all things die
but in interim splendor
survive the bludgeonings
rise above suffering
please for a while
mark for a while
the infinities
of human thanksgiving
in the clasp and yield
of these other battles
sweet in unscented fragrance
less tender to touch
but as soft to eye.
 
[Inspired by the photography of Chandana Wijesinghe]

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Soil and seed, man and woman

Once there was earth
soil that lay over seed
soil that broke with stem and leaf
soil that made way for root;
once there was a tree
of trunk and branch
now leafed now shedded;
and from earth
and other seed
other root and longing
there came man
there came women;
and as tree crafts them
they craft tree,
at times soft and at times rough,
and in the vessels they are
and the vessels they make
the poundings given and taken
shelter and ingratitude
resurrection of the dead
there is wood and timber
earth and soil
moved and moving
and love
that stays
long after tree
long after man and woman
long after death,
in and out of soil
because of root
and arms that reached
and touched a sky.

[Inspired by the photography of Rukshan Abeywansha, published in the FINE Section of THE NATION, March 10, 2013] 

 

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This nation is resilient

We will not petition the UNHRC

we will not confess to uncommitted crimes
we have nothing to say
to the ignorant,
to the blind,
to the selective inquirer;
we live instead
as we have
speak to one another
discourse with the wise
confess to the compassionate
as we are compassionate to confessor
open to the open-mind
firm in our faith
tested in our solidarities
resolute in the face
of storms beyond our strength
tender in the passing of time
in full cognition of light and shade
and the infinities of configuration
we fall, we rise
as we always have.


[Inspired by the photography of Rukshan Abeywansha and published in the FINE Section of THE NATION, February 24, 2013]

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