Have a penchant for writing heartfelt poems?
Send in your heart songs to jayashika@nation.lk or snail mail
The Nation – SOUL, 742, Maradana Road, Colombo 10. Please write ‘Heart
Songs’ on the envelope
or as the subject line of your email.
The Way You Love Me
I remember watching you sleep the last time we were together.
It almost felt like the ocean flowed into the room,
And the waves crashed over me, when you finally woke up
To pull me close and say you love me.
I feel you now as I sit alone, remembering how you love
To lean close and touch my hair or hold hands.
And when I close my eyes or just look far away,
I see you with your dark hair falling over your eyes
With that intense look in them that you always have.
The memories of you haunt me constantly,
Making me stop and think of this love that we share.
You keep saying that you love me too much. It angers you
To love me like this. It makes you feel dependent on me
For your happiness. And there are times when I really believe
You love me, too much, too deeply. And it scares me.
(S)
****
Make Me Cry
I’ll cry you a river
If my tears
Would quench your thirst
I’ll bleed to death
If it gives you satisfaction
I’ll moan you a lullaby
If that’s what it takes,
To put a smile across your face
I’ll be your prey
If you want to play the hunter…
So make me cry
Break my heart
Let me bleed to death
Go ahead and smile,
‘Cause you hear me moan
When you stab me in the heart
Are you satisfied?
Now that you finally hunted me down?
Are you happy now?
Are you happy now..?
Then let me see you smile…
(Indulekha Nanayakkara)
****
Failure
The bane,
Of humanity eternal,
Is the fear to fail,
To stumble and fall.
It keeps dreams at bay,
And endeavours at rest.
It makes success a kite,
That keeps moving away.
Lakshani Kodituwakku
Faculty of Arts,
University of Peradeniya
****
The Call of the Heart
The sound that comes from my heart
not heard by anyone, moves on...
Goes along the lonely road, where no one is.
The wind that blows through the heart
Only keeps it cool,
For how long, it is still unknown.
Voices, unfamiliar, call on the heart.
To come and join forces.
Yet, it is unprepared.
For it is scared.
Bhagya Senaratne
(Undergraduate – University of Colombo)
****
On The Beach Today
I wish to hold your hand forever,
like I did, on the beach today.
I want to walk beside you all my life,
like I did on the beach today.
I long to stare into your brown eyes for all time,
like I did on the beach today.
I long to be in your arms all day and night,
like I did on the beach today.
I cherish your gentle kisses forever and for always,
like I did on the beach today
I will love, hold and cherish you all my life,
Just like I did,
On the beach today
(Nabiha Ariff)
****
The Swing and the Sun
The footprints, made a mark on the ground. Mine, they said, she didn’t
believe them.
Those can’t be my footprints, she said.
The swing carried the little girl up. The wind took full control of the
swing. Heaven greeted her. Her body reached up as to kiss the sun. The
sky was calling to embrace her,
Nothing else mattered but reaching the sky…The sun was waiting for her…
But on her way up, she happened to look down on the earth. “I’m so far
from the earth,”
she uttered. Sadness filled her heart, for all the things she had become
so familiar in her life.
“How can I go back now?” She asked the sun. “Will you let me go?”
“Do you want to leave?” The sun asked her quietly, gently, while shining
upon her.
The question made her heart ace. “I don’t know,” she said. “Your rays
make me burn,” she said, with tears in her eyes.
The sun let the wind carry her down. Forming a carpet of clouds for her
feet,
So comfortably did her feet touch the ground. But her eyes were still at
the sky.
She was in love with the sun. And she knew it. Even with those bright
rays that burned her sometimes.
Soon the sun disappeared into the clouds. And the sun transformed into
raindrops.
The sun appeared as rain. The moon came up. The sky, the rain, the moon,
the stars, all tired to take the place of the sun in her eyes. She
turned away from them all.
“Don’t you dare come near me,” she shouted at the moon. “I don’t belong
to you,
Get away from me…” But the moon refused to leave. She walked away, while
the stars sighed for her. “I don’t love you,” she said, and walked away.
“Who do you love then?” The moon asked, but she didn’t wait to reply.
She ran to the swing and looked up at the sky. But the sun was nowhere
to bee seen.
She sat there and waited for the wind to carry her up again. But no wind
arrived. She prayed to catch a glimpse of the sun in the darkness. But
there was no sun to be seen. Only the footprints lay on the ground,
waiting for her feet to fit…
(Kala)
****
Poet of the week
Gabriel Okara
Gabriel Imomotimi Gbaingbain Okara is a Nigerian writer. He was born in
Bomoundi in Bayelsa State, Nigeria, in April 1921. He is a poet and
novelist; his novel The Voice was published by Heinemann in the African
Writers Series. Okara has written many poems, the most famous of which
is “Piano and Drums.”
Okara may be described as highly original and uninfluenced by other
poets. In 1979 he was awarded the Commonwealth Poetry Prize. He has been
extremely successful in capturing the moods, sights and sounds of
Africa. His poems show great sensitivity, perceptive judgments and a
tremendous energy. Okara also shows a concern regarding what happens
when the ancient culture of Africa is faced with modern western culture,
for example in his poem, Once Upon a Time.
****
Once Upon A Time
Once upon a time, son,
They used to laugh with their hearts
And laugh with their eyes;
But now they only laugh with their teeth,
While their ice-block-cold eyes
Search behind my shadow.
There was time indeed
They used to shake hands with their hearts;
But that’s gone, son.
Now they shake hands without hearts
While their left hands search
My empty pockets.
“Feel at home!” “Come again;”
They say, and when I come
Again and feel
At home, once, twice,
There will be no thrice---
For then I find doors shut on me.
So I have learned many things, son.
I have learned to wear many faces
Like dresses---homeface,
officeface, streetface, hostface,
cocktailface, with all their conforming smiles
Like a fixed portrait smile.
And I have learned, too,
To laugh with only my teeth
And shake hands without my heart.
I have also learned to say, “Goodbye,”
When I mean “Good-riddance;”
To say “glad to meet you,”
Without being glad; and to say “It’s been
Nice talking to you,” after being bored.
But believe me, son.
I want to be what I used to be
When I was like you. I want
To unlearn all these muting things.
Most of all, I want to relearn
How to laugh, for my laugh in the mirror
Shows only my teeth like a snake’s bare fangs!
So show me, son,
How to laugh; show me how
I used to laugh and smile
Once upon a time when I was like you.
****
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