100 Words since 1997
View(s):Thank you for all your contributions to the 100 word page on Intense. It is interesting to note how many writers have connected pain with intensity perhaps it gives us a glimpse of the truth of the Buddhist saying that attachment breeds sorrow. The theme for November is “SKIN”.
| Please send in your contributions before October 31 to:100 Word Page, The Sunday Times, No 8, hunupitiya Cross Road, Colombo 2 |
Old Aunt Lou
Note the intensity
Of Aunt Lou’s inquisitiveness
In our family gatherings
The face of gloom
That’s Aunt Lou
Smelling of mothballs and perfume.
Her priggish presence
Is intensely constricting,
Her gimlet eyes miss nothing.
Laughter and fun
Goes suddenly quiet
There’s a chill in the air,
Her look of appraisal
Is more of disapproval
Frowning on fads
And frivolous fashions,
There’s no need
To hear her opinion
It’s written large
In her intensely cold eyes,
But old Aunt Lou
Is extremely rich
And we are her heirs
Doomed to suffer in silence
And cringe in despair?
Kamala Gunasekara
Nugegoda
INTENSITY
The rains have come again.
I remember the last wet season,
When the rains came down
In a merciless torrent
Upon the hapless people
Who had suffered the drought
And prayed for water.
The intense heat,
Had parched them and their lands
Sucked the very life out of many
One by one, child and man
Slowly, over the months.
Then the rains came, as if in fury
At being summoned against will,
Uprooting trees and homes
And dragging the bewildered folks
In its destructive trail
Into watery graves.
Afterwards,
Those left behind,
were too stunned
To wish for anything.
D de Silva
INTENSE SUFFERING
The stone was hurled,
You did not runaway,
You caressed the tulips,
Despite,
The subterfuge
Baffled, bent, broken,
You.
The stone is smashed,
And the murky moss,
Covers,
The once sterling,
The now startled,
Pearl,
You.
Amra Ismail
Intense Relief
Her footsteps took her
to her desk
slowly and softly.
Her hands shivering
Eyes blurring
Lips quivering
She composed a poem.
No relief.
She closed her eyes
trying to meditate
to free herself
from intense yearning
for that smile.
The strength of her life.
I am dying
Where are you, she murmured
An owl answered.
His voice rang, around her.
Suddenly her mind was free.
Free of intense pain
and less intense pain
Moon winked.
Stars danced.
His smiling face, on her hands.
A red rose smiled.
Intense happiness.
She laughed aloud.
Her sanity had left.
Kshemali Nanayakkara de Silva
Ratmalana
LOVE
At the end of half a decade
The precious moment dawned
The tiny bundle slipped
Into the protective hands
With the first cry
Lifting the mother to heaven.
A deadly silence followed.
The second wailing cry
Turned the world upside down
The doctor turned away
With rolled lips.
She cuddled her still treasure
In her warm bosom;
Her intense love and grief
Rolled down her cheeks
And wetted the tiny head.
The third, joint cry
Made many feet rush
To witness the REBIRTH
Kumari Weerasooriya
Polgolla
“INTENSE”
Cobalt and Cerulean skies
have returned with intense
heat after the deluge…
Araliya and Jasmine
fragrance fill the air…
But misery of mountains
rolling down on helpless
Humans and animals…
Rivers overflowing,
Flooding farm lands…
Tears of orphans
and Refugees
Drowning in stormy seas
while the lucky ones
Dance and sing with the
intense joy of being alive.
Jegatheesvari Nagendran
INTENSE
She saw him -
From inside her “Maruti” -
Muttering words -
Waving his hands -
Laughing to himself.
Amused and pitiful looks -
Chasing him.
Tears filled her beautiful eyes.
Was his love
So intense for her
That something snapped inside
When she refused him?
Has she ever found
Such intense love again
In her hitherto -
Peaceful, luxurious life?
Priscilla Pereira
Pilimatalawa