To Romesh Gunasekara

This is for you,

for you

Pic by www.gettyimages.com

who is made of delicate reef ,

poisoned ramparts ,

the noontide 

and sand glass paint,

to your politicians and men 

with handlebars and tortoise topknots,

to your noisy nights in the pearl

of frogs,

drums,

bottles,

dogs barking at moon ,

the chatter under yellow lights in streets,

and

crowded tea stalls

that were halted by a hammer blow,

to the ugly disturbance ,

bulletins

and fired palmyrah,

to that prison like wind and dead blackness 

then frightened your bay sands 6000 miles away 

and mine just few kilometers.

This is for you ,

for your Vasantha's van rides 

to the old Dutch fort ,

to your new highways

and no -roadblocks

poignant,

absorbing,

heart rending, 

languorous ,once dismal ed

and cheered many times.

*Romesh Gunesekera is a writer. He now lives in London.He is an elected Fellow of the Royal Society of    Literature, and has also received a National  Honour in SriLanka.His widely acclaimed first novel, Reef, was  published in 1994 and was short-listed as a finalist for the Booker Prize, as well as for  the Guardian Fiction Prize.  In the USA he was nominated for a New Voice Award.