100 Words
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Thank you for your contributions to the 100 word page on ‘Brevity’ a few have concentrated on words their necessary function of pinning down meaning from a multitude of possible senses, some on life, its essential brevity and the concept of impermanence all in all a rather philosophically oriented page.
The theme for March is ‘Drums’. Please send in your contributions before March 4, 2017 to Madhubashini Dissanayake-Ratnayake, C/o The Sunday Times, No. 8, Hunupitiya Cross Road, Colombo 2
N.B. Work sent to this page may be edited.
Scribblings
Under the starry heavens,
She sat by the gently rippling river,
A lamp by her side.
Reading.
Rereading,
The brief lines she’s scribbled.
Pondering on the million deep thoughts
Hidden behind their brevity.
Meanings that were only hers.
By Maya Arundhati
Life
Moon glow on a river,
A blossom air scented
Droops
Dangling dew drops
A lightning flash
A passing whim,
Life?
Usula P. Wijesuriya
Brevity
Words were ever
my escape and nemesis.
Before they could
sprint past my bridle,
goblins snarled at their gist,
slashing efficacy
until they skittered
back to
the labyrinth of
my confusion.
Whatever let out
rattled on as
wheels on track,
incongruous, gattulous.
Scarlet-faced,
I dissolved
into the wallpaper.
Substance drew me
from ignominy.
I was willed
to hoe
the voice of reason,
chisel meaning
and pluck and weigh
pearls from rubble.
So I learnt brevity,
to harness notions
in a weave of
clarity.
K. Liyanage
Brevity
She was a sweet rose
My neighbour’s child,
Her fragrance was felt
By everybody around her.
An expert in singing and dancing
Emerging victorious very often.
The humorous comments
Proved her wit.
Unfortunately at ten
She was defeated
By a tiny mosquito.
Did it need a companion
To demonstrate
The brevity of life?
Kumari Weerasooriya
Brief Attraction
Two lovers relax by the seashore,
She, soft in the circle of his arms
Weaving artless wishes
Watching the sun’s red eye
Sink into the horizon.
He carved their names
On the damp untrodden sand
Suddenly a wild wave
Washed over them
Sucked their names into the sea.
“Bad omen”, he spluttered
Shaking the salt water
Out of his hair.
He walked her home
A sad silence between them,
She slipped her hand into his
He was cold and unresponsive.
Nature’s caprice unsettled him.
The naïve youth, with more faith
In superstition than in love
Slipped out of her life.
Kamala Gunasekera