on 'Haunting' |
Not my story
Sometimes they shone with innocent joy,
Whispering of secret trysts by shady pools,
And hinting at strolls along moonlit paths…
But at other times they’d flash angrily,
Unable to conceal bitter memories
Of tenderness marred by deceit.
Only in an unguarded moment,
Were they downcast,
Regretting hasty words.
For they were usually reflective,
Wondering if, in the generations to come,
History will repeat itself.
Mirroring my world,
Yet always,
Always telling another’s story.
Time and again I wonder from whom I –
Scrawny, pimply,
Unruly hair,
Could have inherited eyes
So hauntingly beautiful.
- V. Ramanayake
Haunting melody
‘Longing’ was the name of the piece
I played
In those long afternoons when I was thirteen
As my fingers touched the ivory keys
The notes rose and fell with plaintive ease.
Now slow, now sad, they lingered and then
Into the silence drifted again…
Even now sometimes I hear it again
Haunting the silence with its refrain
Awakening thoughts I thought were dead
Re-kindling fires my heart once fed.
- Nirmala Louis
From a distance
A cherubic face replete with anticipated joy
Keeps haunting me from across the seas –
Hearing her baby-talk early one morning
I gravitated to her room.
A good night’s sleep and hunger appeased
“It’s bonding time,” she seemed to say
But Mum and Dad were inclined to sleep longer
Discharged her in her cot – and pulled their own covers over.
Her beautiful eyes lit up on seeing me
I picked her and put her between Mum and Dad;
A thought keeps haunting me now I am far away
Will they pamper her morning mood – or sleep a little longer?
- Thilaha Yoganathan
Memories
When I hear the clap of thunder,
When I see the lightning strike,
I shut my eyes and pray
Oh God not again…
For they bring back the memories
Of the war ravaged land
I still see the suffering
I still hear the cries
Though seas apart,
From the war ravaged land,
For distance and time
Have no power
Over the haunting memories
Of the war ravaged land.
- A. R. Z. Shilmy
Haunted
I cannot help it
it keeps coming back
The thoughts which are
meant to be
blocked at the back
The more you try not to,
you think of it more
The thoughts in my mind,
will simply not go.
- Dilrukshi
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