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Dusty roads and vanni sun cook the boiling tempers
Once with guns now with shovels work unsung soldiers
Multitudes suffer in camps, hovels brutal sweat shops
Elite few warm their chairs or climb their dizzy hops
Midday pack with dusty hands eats a weary soldier
Every hundred meters is their home called the bunker
War to peace, terror to ease, yet they work e’en harder
IDP of three generations have found a friend & brother
Merchants of misery list is long learn to earn & fleece
Doctors with Patients, Lawyers with clients fat fees
Crises and disasters no less lucrative marketed aright
Fourth estate mint their millions opining on others’ plight
Business moguls plan for profit Jaffna is wide open
Some How to attract Diaspora for the time has ripen
Who thinks of people who lost their homes & dignity
In a terror king’s bigoted fantasy and ruthless insanity
O for a shepherd in judiciary, executive or legislature
One to heal the wounds and place the needed suture
One hearing the sheep bleat, babies anguished rupture
Father for a nation and people, groping for their future
Vavuniya hub & heart of the cross section
Right to Mannar – left to Trincomalee
Neck to Jaffna & feet stretch to the South
With the milk of human kindness
Gateway Town I bless thee
Be thou a bridge for peace & amity
If we fail now we fail for all time
Loss to many generations misery multiplied
Now is the moment, patriot’s finest hour
Think not what I can get but what I can offer
Head of State we encourage thee
To rise above petty strife
To statesmanship reminisced by
Unborn generations to come that sigh –
A sigh of relief that there once was
A President who heard the cry & healed the Land
……..GOD HELPING
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I gave up the beauty of my body to birth my son
My best years youth energy his daily chores done
Ne’er a thought who’d care for me when years run
Wish fast money loan I did, for many other things his heart has won
IDP camp my home is, barbed wire my wall
I remember the days of home – lost to all
Last I saw my girl in forced tiger combat
My son arrested, mahaveer suspect at that
My one son a ranaviru paralysed waste below
I carried him when small, yet I do as before
Motherhood never ends, his children I tend
Seeking better prospects his wife has fled
My name is vanity – motherhood who cares
Live to the fullest – one life soon has wares
Live for the day who knows tomorrow’s fares
I am my destiny – why be a mother who shares
I am a mother & grandmother worn and weary
My lean wrinkled hands begging bowl to carry
Life is tough daily bread so scarce I am hungry
It’s a day grey head & slow feet make them angry
Cruel twist of fate two mothers of two races
Sinhala & Tamil languish in the same places
Court houses & prison- hoping to get release
Sons charged on different counts – ill at ease
I have no home to call my own- hours are long
We are all elders, no husband to make a home
From the windows of Elders home peering eye
Eagerly I await weekly, for children to come by
UK USA EU became home for my offspring
Born to me they sought riches the west brings
My green pasture Good Shepherd will make
He in mercy will have to heal my heart ache
I wasn’t a professional, or a society climber
My love was family, home my biz chamber
I raised children and grandchildren lovingly
They may forget- I have my reward heavenly
Hand that rocks the cradle rules the world
Babe that fits the cradle filled my world
They are now strong famous busily engaged
My world is empty, but God is my Shepherd
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My heart is love but I couldn’t speak
Young man covered with a white sheet
Unconscious – stroke so young, he’s my son
I wish I told him, I love him much
But the Victorian values – mum’s the word
Is it too late to regain a son?
His brain swollen a massive stroke
Doctors strive friends prayer invoke
Miracle of miracles – from death to life
best funds I have him back – I’ll tell of love
O my God my tongue doesn’t bend
If only he could speak well
My heart is love but I couldn’t speak
I knew her choice of partner is freak
How we loved our firstborn
Remember her curls & her voice
Now the brute says – she’s not for me
Would do God – I had saved my daughter
My heart is love but I couldn’t speak
From his young days sports & bravery
Exploits & nation on my son’s heart
Medals & accolades come very fast
Sniper’s bullet in Puttumatalan
Last battle – he comes in coffin
My heart is love but I couldn’t speak
God have mercy – this land mistreats
My daughter so ardent injustice rampant
Minority in war – it’s almost hell
She joins the cadre – leaving medical studies
Thank you God, she’s not dead
Barbed wire only incarcerates
Heart & spirit lacerates – God Help!
My heart is love but I couldn’t speak
Peers robbed my daughter not meek
“Ammi you’re old fashioned
I am shy you look so old
Don’t come to school to pick me up”
She sometimes doesn’t come home
My heart is love but I couldn’t speak
“Appa Let me go abroad to study seek
we have no future here”
My only one – that’ll be a long separation
“Appa – give me my future to make it secure”
She’s gone many years – my wife with her
I fight the HR cases for my clients
Besieged minority – at home aliens
No end to woe though war is over
“Appa I can support – you come over”
Can I be a couch potato in alien land?
My people need me here
My family calls me there
God is the God of the fatherless
He’s the husband to the widow
My heart is love but I couldn’t speak
War & violence havoc wreak
In my Lanka friends – daggers drawn
Peacemaker branded traitor disown
Once the Pearl of the Indian ocean
Now bloodied with much commotion
There is a Way Truth & Life
There is a Shepherd Good & Wise
Too bigoted to hear – afraid to tell
O my brothers in God you’d do well
Come to Him to reconcile rifts
Come to Him bruises to heal
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