Still

A ghoulish body lay
On a creaky bed
Parched throat and hollowed cheeks
Like a dead tree branch.
His sunken eyes fixed at the door.
Waiting…

Hazy human forms peered
Echoes of whispers hovered
Sticky medical potions Lend
Kaleidoscopic patterns on the sill.
Still,
His eyes wandered to the door,
Waiting…

Every muscle and sinew ached
Body,
Heavy with years of abuse.
He could lift not.
When,
A shrouded stranger at the door,
Lifted and embraced him,
A bristly cry escaped his throat.
Death…
I was waiting for thee

– Dr. Durga Dev

Come back

Who did this horrendous thing to us –
They had a stone inside them
Instead of a heart.
Hard, parched, cruel –
To take him and go
Unceremoniously
Making, my life
A gaping wound
Bleeding.
Oh, my beloved
Every noise a footfall
Every tap a knock
Is it you
Come back again
To bring joy and light
To your family?
Oh, let him come –
Please –
My days and nights
Are dissolving
In waiting!

– Priscilla Pereira

Surprise

He gave the remains of his breakfast to the scrawny, grey kitten – seated outside his room.

In a few hours, he will be starting his new job – the job he had been waiting for – so far away from home.

His work kept him busy. The hours flew. Soon it was time to return to the room – where there will be no one waiting to greet him.

He pulled out his key. There was a sudden movement. The little grey kitten was there – rubbing against his leg.

He felt elated.

Someone had been waiting for him – after all!

– Noeline Azariah

While waiting

While waiting for your call
I just turned over the paper,
I found the Mirror Mgazine,
And turned it aimlessly,
To my surprise I found
The “100-word” page
My all-time favourite,
At a breath I went through
All the poems,
I found the next month's topic ‘waiting’
I thought of writing on ‘waiting,’
While waiting

– Sylmiya Inoon

Gone

Two little ones
Playing in the sand,
Looked up to see if it was their father coming home.
For oft he would bring little goodies and a big
hug;
They waited, and waited,
But thaththi did not come.
Nor the next day....
Ammi told them ‘he has gone to a far-away land.’
She was too heart broken maybe
To tell them,
Of the bomb blast
So,
The little ones even after eight long years
Are still waiting, for their father to come
home....

– Nalini Damayanthi Mahawaduge

Reunion

As the plane touched down
And finally came to halt
I felt that my waiting
Was almost over.
Three years ago
When I left the shores
She was only
Seven months old.
The moment has come
To cuddle her in my arms.
Ah! There she is
Clad in a dainty little frock
Clinging onto her mother
Staring at the approaching trolley!
Eyes blurred with tears of joy
I bent with open arms.
She backed away quickly
Hiding her face.
"Wait till we go home"
Whispered my wife.
"Oh God!" I sighed
Agony of waiting
Was not over as yet.

– Nimal Jayasinghe

The woodcutter

His wife went abroad, secretly;
Leaving the five-month baby,
And the poverty-stricken village behind.
Everyday, he would feed the child,
Sing a lullaby, and wait till she sleeps Before going,
In search of firewood,
To the nearby forest at
"Siripa Adaviya" – the sacred mountain.
One day, he saw an abandoned cabana,
And thought of breaking it down
For firewood.
But alas! The roof fell upon him.

People found him weeks later.
They recognized him
By his tattered clothes
And the corroded axe
Lying next to him.
Just then, someone remembered,
He had a five-month baby
Waiting for him.

– Jayamalie Jayasuriya