The Other Side

Take a step in the shadows

Walk the grasses of the hidden meadows

Stop with your busy platter latter

Hop unto a log and let the raindrops pitter

patter

Look upto the stars and count ‘em

Book a time off and smile a little with them

Don’t be afraid to take that long path

Won’t it hide some treasures waiting for you to come forth?

Come and take this ride

Come take this trip to the other side

Keep aside the deadweight

Walk in the moonlight

Dream a little, smile a little and maybe cry a little

Let the winds blow away your hair a little

Listen to the waves rumble in the distant sea

Watch the gulls soar over a gleaming sea

Let a little cocktail be brewed

Not in a bottle but in your heart

Live life a little

Not a little be a life

Gypsy Girl and a Prince

There SHE was

Fluttering through the meadows, butterflies envying her

Singing in the rain, larks cooing along her tune

Gliding through by the rivers and lakes, which stop by to gaze her beauty

Young and wild, there she was the gypsy girl

There SHE is

Walking the city streets, attired folk stop by and eavesdrop her tune

Humming her gentle tune, asks she from passers by; “Fresh Fruit anyone?”

Cheerful smiles hiding her broken heart, holds her cents close to her bosom

Sun sets even in paradise and she walks back to the meadows and valleys she belongs

There HE was

The silent admirer, following her discreetly in padded paws

Picking up the pieces of her broken heart, dreaming of ways to put it back together

Flows around her like a dreamy river, longing her silky hair in his hands

Fighting the demons, eyeing the cheerful soul

There HE is

Humming tunes beautiful, birds chirping away

Does she hear? Or does she not? he wonders

The protector, lover, fighter above all, a silent admirer

The setting sun drives him back, back to the mansion guarded by wrought iron gates

There THEY are

Two rivers that aren’t meant to meet

Two songs that aren’t sung tonight

Two sides of a coin

Meant to be, yet not meant to be 

Gypsy Girl and a Prince
Minna

True Love

“Through the meadows and valleys shall thee come

And shalt I await with eyes wide open with the hope of a glimpse of your soul”

Said she the lady through the eyes of a moving reel

I woke up to the sound of movie fans leaving

Tumbled across lazily outside the hall to see the title; “TRUE LOVE” it said

A myth, a legend, a bedtime story

That’s all I knew about true love

Till one day and that was yesterday

They charged with batons a-blazing

Reminds me of Cortés charging the armed soldiers against the panic stricken aztecs with sticks in their hands

They ran with vengeance in their eyes

Vengeance against learned children in worn out clothes, demanding justice; not for them but for the future

She hugged him in her bosom

Hung around like a scarf, that didn’t float away in a raging wind

Her pain and anger rolled in tears

Sobbed in words, pleaded that he be left alone

But the armada had left their hearts at home

Beat after beat they dealt,

So loud that their heartbeat was heard out loud

But she held on, like the mother earth; Silent and crying

A picture speaks a thousand words they said

She spoke a thousand and one

Torn rags hung their blood, sweat and tears

A poor body with a rich soul

She held him strong and stout

Like an olden oak with roots in the grounds

Never let go

For he was her love

Their cries weren’t heard by the heartless outside

Their tears weren’t shared by the heroes online

Their story wasn’t heard by the coward inside

Their love was heard by the world outside

A myth, a legend, a bedtime story

That’s all I knew about true love

Until one day

And that was yesterday

Minindu Ekanayake

“The pain a suppressed, unarmed citizen undergoes due to police brutality is inhuman. Such a person shall never lay faith on the law again”

~ Justice Eva Wanasundara (Chamara Sampath Kumara vs SI Salwatura & Others)

Price of Free Education

Walk with me along the dusty roads with scattered dreams

Talk with me as you go along, the wanders of sparkling cities

Dream is what we do, we got all the time in the world

Stream through the seconds turning to minutes to hours

Come along with me to my humble home

Some days I remember when the family hearth glowed

That was when the golden grains nodded to the hymns of the wind

What was once a barn lies in shacks today

Allow me to introduce my father, once the farmer of the golden crops we passed

Follow me as he sits peacefully in the chair with wheels

Pardon me, it’s time that mother gets the herbal remedy

Burdens it does, her chest weary from years of coughing

Sister peeps through the blinds fluttering to and fro

Mister, she’s sitting an ordinary exam this fall

Piles of books there was when I loved what many like to call Science

Miles I did go to the broken buildings of hope; for Life as I saw it was there

Why you ask, didn’t I try once more

Comply I couldn’t for a fee something once free

Life on a platter they said

Strife was mine for my pockets were empty though my heart was full

When did education become a commodity?

Then and there we lost our hope, the glimmering lamp went out

Three A’s can’t add up to dreams for

Free days were over long ago

Sit by and observe as the sun sets in paradise

Goodbye dear sir I’m off to attala, the elephants are mean

~ What Hurts the Most ~

(Based on a true story)

Along the dusty aisles do I stroll

Graffiti speaks on the wall

Leave I do every morning

From the dusty shack itself mourning

Stroke the smiling mumbling innocent face I do

Wiping away tears that never come out ado

Dirty rags and bruised elfin feet hurt I know

Feet hurt they do but mind cries that too I know

Queens O' Queens have mercy on my little one

Let me climb aboard and shake my tin can O' mighty one

Queen of the south whizzing away empty dreams packed into boxes

Mind your rails for some dreams are worth than empty boxes

As I hold the sleeping baby in my arms

Lament I do over spilt milk once in my palms

Once I too had a dream when my king trod the earth

Speed kills they say, somewhere along the road someone forgot the oath

No cries or wails could bring back a fallen soldier

Cried I did, arid Black Rivers turned cold

So young sir don't look away

My heart wails with every sway

Hear me O' winds of the West

Carry my pain away to the Temple of the West

With every cent that hits the shallow can

My heart pains but my mind thanks for you made me believe I can

Dreams I do have of simple pleasures

Where my little one runs afree of unbound chains

As I walk back home I see dark shadows among the dark aisles

Beckoning my poor mind to delve into walk 'em dark miles

 

Her cry brings me back to Earth

I remember that I have to light my family hearth

She sleeps peacefully in her ragged cot

As I light up my pot

Looking at the setting sun I ask every day

When will my chains unseen break free? Somewhere Someone says; Someday

The Street

Walking down the aisle I see yonder

The men who smoke cigars laid down with tattered rags

And I wonder their story beneath those ragged clothes and dirty faces

Have their dreams been tattered or have they tattered their dreams?

Walking down the aisle I walk on the steps of giant men

Men who changed the world, men who changed how we look at the world

And I ponder upon the random and uneventful questions popping by

Have they been destined to achieve or did they achieve their destiny?

Walking down the aisle I see winners

Clean suits and hats bobbing by, nodding away at each other, good ole’ morning

And over the yonder I whisper unto myself

Are their hearts as clean as their suit over the sunshine?

Walking down the aisle I see beggars

Rattling their tipping tin mumbling away well heard jumbles into the rumbling bumble of tumbling traffic

And I sit under the “café” serving ten rupee tea with broken handles

Quizzing the facts and the fictions; have their dreams been snatched away by the karma?

Walking down the aisle I near its junction

As I walk past I gaze unto a person, aghast I ponder

Is he happy? Sad? Or angry? Or maybe a just a bit dreamy?

And he smiles back to me from the mirror asking me

“What are you doing here, in the aisle of broken dreams?”

Minindu Ekanayake

15/08/16

That Night...

Crashing... Over the hills...
Darkness... Swept the winds...

Walking the rubble and dirt...
Feel I  the tears, the screams and the cries I never heard...

Tears grace the graves unmarked...
Shines the silver light unto those who went silent into the night...

Walking the streets once I stumbled upon...
I hear her voice ringing at every corner...

The smiles, the tears and the frowns...
The promises that were never kept painfully lingering in every corner...

Dancing in the rain, the cascade swinging in the gentle breeze...
Sweeps around me the gentle warmth of your shoulder slowly fading into the memories...

Walk the twilight...
Feel the love that was buried beneath the rubble, sealed forever for an eternity...

Beating down upon me cries the skies...
Vain is your attempt for angels belong in heaven...

Buried me in your heart long ago...
Why not bury me in your grave tonight?

Look unto me...
Whisper once more into my ear, I Love You...

Hours rolled into days and weeks and shall into years...
Disappear into the night sky you did, leaving untold stories...

Unanswered questions scattered amongst the dust and grit...
Orange jackets and sniffing tail-waggers can never find answers to buried under them...

Wading through the cries of gods...
Remind myself that nothing's for eternity...

Hear the stories of thieves, rascals, lovers, parents whisper into your ears...
How the night rumbled into their lives like the lights of the skies...

Why I ask the night...
Didn't you whisk me away?

Don't you know that dead men tell no tales?
Pompeii I feel your pain buried under the spits of demons...

Happily ever after in the tales...
Was washed away yesterday...

Take me home O' gods of the skies...
Bury me in her grave...