Luminous

O you simple stick of wax with a wick in the middle,
Set alight brightly by the stroke of a matchstick,
A candle flickering in the cool nights breeze,
Radiating your waxy light like a distant star in the heavenly sky,
How I crave your luminous companionship on those long dark nights,
Even the fluttering moths seem to find you irresistible,
I wish it could last forever but sadly nothing ever does,
So I’ll savour your company until you diminish gradually into nothingness.

-Ronald Spittle

Flickers of hope

She wants to read
I want to write
Why can’t they fix this soon
Must we suffer like this for hours?
Looks like the rains are late again
When the lights go out
Sometimes, all that’s left in the
darkness
Is a candle
He wants his dad
I want my life
Please, somebody fix this soon
Must we suffer like this for years?
Looks like the rains are here to stay
When a life goes out
Sometimes, all that’s left in the
darkness
Is a candle

- John Ediriweera

A blaze of peace

We are going to light candles
For peace
And–
People from all walks of life
Will march for peace.
Hundreds of candles will burn
Beckoning peace to our country.
Then –
I will return to my cosy corner
And live–
Proud about
My race, my religion, my heritage and my creed.
Race, religion and creed of the other?
Do they matter to me?
Oh, you little little men
Light your candles of love, understanding and camaraderie
In your little corners
Where you live,
And the whole world
Would be ablaze
With candles of peace!

-Priscilla Pereira

Living alone

In the first monsoon nights
when there was only me,
I lit the candles
on the tortoise shells and
watched the 'ibbas’ parade
through the jagged and haunting coconuts.
The animals walking
gliding almost
in a line past the perimeter
of ghostly frangipani.
Heavy and ancient
wise but not-yet-cracked.
Gliding, glowing, gleaming.
Only I was sitting on the doorstep watching the light walk away.

Yomal Senerath Yapa

Seeker of light

Show me some light… your gentle voice allured me
as you slipped your soft hand into mine.
Lighting that candle, your innocent beauty mesmerized me.
Perhaps I missed the dancing flames in your eyes
for before I knew it the candle had died
blown out by the wind and washed away by the rain.
You left me in the dark, took his hand instead and followed him into the sunlight.
A trick… a prank… You played only too well…
My only consolation
You can never blow out his sunlight like you blew
out my candlelight.

-Sayuri Perera

Mother

I was curled up in the chair, my eyes closed
I was wondering. It was dark
Moments later I smelt fire my eyelids flew open
She was there standing tall, holding a candle
I watched, the candle glowing between her fingers
It lightened the room
Wax was starting to melt rushing its way towards her fingers
I feared that it would hurt her. But she didn’t mind
A moth flew towards the flickering light
She didn’t let it
A light breeze blew through the open window
She held her hand against the wind
It didn’t blow up
One day the candle would melt down
But until then she would hold it
YES! It’s my life you’re holding

-Ruchini Jayasekera