(In protest of the incident of a five-year-old girl on September 12th, 2015 in the Kotadeniyawa area of Sri Lanka)
She was just five
Now reclining mutely inside
the wooden box
lost in a deep siesta
All day long she would
sprint here and there
in the compound
Stalking with her hands clasped together
to catch the butterflies
that were buzzing around
the flowery bushes
Or she would cook some sand rice
using a coconut shelf as a mould
and urge her mother to eat them
While jumping from square to square
sketched in the courtyard
she would incessantly blabber
some lines of songs
that she heard playing on the radio
Such a chatterbox
sleeping long in the daytime
without muttering a word
No, no way,
She must be masquerading as asleep
just to act fool with her mother
How could her tiny childish thighs bear it?
Perhaps she screamed
while cold tears poured down
her fresh rosy cheeks
And then, there was this noose
made out of a strip of cloth
that tightened around her slender neck
Oh, little girl,
You can’t vanish into the soil like that
Wake up from sleep,
march along the streets
and shout out
for the sake of your sisters!
Author Bio:
Indunil Madhusankha is a budding young poet from Sri Lanka. He is currently an undergraduate reading for a BSc Special Degree in Mathematics in the Faculty of Science of the University of Colombo and he takes a great interest in the subjects of Mathematics, Statistics, and Computer Science. In addition to Indunil’s involvement in the field of Physical Sciences, he also pursues a notable literary career. He achieved three gold medals and a silver medal from four All Island English Essay Competitions. Further, he presented several papers on English language studies at some national and international level conferences and he contributed a few review articles to a couple of peer-reviewed international journals. He has undertaken several research projects pertaining to the areas of ELT, CLIL, and English Literature. Also, he completed the TKT examination and the three specialist modules YL, KAL, and CLIL. Indunil compiled his first collection of poetry entitled, Oasis when he was sixteen and the present book, Reflections of Life is his second collection. Further, he is currently working on a book titled, A Rare Kind of beauty, Yet Unexplored: A Selection of Modern Sri Lankan Sinhala Poetry featuring a translation of a set of select Sinhala poems written by some famous Sri Lankan poets. He also enjoys interviewing fellow poets and practicing the art of performance poetry. Moreover, his creative and academic works have been featured in many international journals, magazines, websites and anthologies in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Africa, Nigeria, India, Sri Lanka and some other countries.
She was just five
Now reclining mutely inside
the wooden box
lost in a deep siesta
All day long she would
sprint here and there
in the compound
Stalking with her hands clasped together
to catch the butterflies
that were buzzing around
the flowery bushes
Or she would cook some sand rice
using a coconut shelf as a mould
and urge her mother to eat them
While jumping from square to square
sketched in the courtyard
she would incessantly blabber
some lines of songs
that she heard playing on the radio
Such a chatterbox
sleeping long in the daytime
without muttering a word
No, no way,
She must be masquerading as asleep
just to act fool with her mother
How could her tiny childish thighs bear it?
Perhaps she screamed
while cold tears poured down
her fresh rosy cheeks
And then, there was this noose
made out of a strip of cloth
that tightened around her slender neck
Oh, little girl,
You can’t vanish into the soil like that
Wake up from sleep,
march along the streets
and shout out
for the sake of your sisters!
Author Bio:
Indunil Madhusankha is a budding young poet from Sri Lanka. He is currently an undergraduate reading for a BSc Special Degree in Mathematics in the Faculty of Science of the University of Colombo and he takes a great interest in the subjects of Mathematics, Statistics, and Computer Science. In addition to Indunil’s involvement in the field of Physical Sciences, he also pursues a notable literary career. He achieved three gold medals and a silver medal from four All Island English Essay Competitions. Further, he presented several papers on English language studies at some national and international level conferences and he contributed a few review articles to a couple of peer-reviewed international journals. He has undertaken several research projects pertaining to the areas of ELT, CLIL, and English Literature. Also, he completed the TKT examination and the three specialist modules YL, KAL, and CLIL. Indunil compiled his first collection of poetry entitled, Oasis when he was sixteen and the present book, Reflections of Life is his second collection. Further, he is currently working on a book titled, A Rare Kind of beauty, Yet Unexplored: A Selection of Modern Sri Lankan Sinhala Poetry featuring a translation of a set of select Sinhala poems written by some famous Sri Lankan poets. He also enjoys interviewing fellow poets and practicing the art of performance poetry. Moreover, his creative and academic works have been featured in many international journals, magazines, websites and anthologies in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Africa, Nigeria, India, Sri Lanka and some other countries.
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