Shirani Rajapakse

They sit in a row, heads
Bowed low, and accept
...

Hands across the world we are
the masses. We protest injustice
that those in high office calls
justice. We weather the spray,
...

Out of the ruins of war rose a voice
so calm it took us by surprise. Was this
peace? We rejoiced and marveled at
the thought.
...

Lifting, moving,
bowing. Blue stripes
on loose white cover
skin and bone too
...

Give me a sip of water
for my lips are parched, my throat too dry
to speak and I will sing you a song
of the Sahel as I remember it. A song soft
...

The aroma from my coffee wafts
through the room. The sweet
taste of the doughnut lingers in my
mouth as I sit in cushioned
...

The men ride through the night. Their horses
gallop to time on the sands as they
move through the dust rising, rising like a cloud.
And as they move they sing.
...

You placed me on
a shelf and left
me there to dry. I was
forgotten.
...

You watched from your window as they came in numbers
large enough to take over the world.
One by one they built a park of humanity.
I watched from my PC, my window to there – where you were.
...

She stared out at the people passing on
the street before her. A myriad
of colours and shapes
wafted by, some hurrying some moving
...

The smell of smoke and acid thins
on the wind as warm breezes
blow softly, taking them away,
from the desert.
...

I’m bored with this life.

Can I go home? But where is
home? How do I get there? Which bus
...

The noise engulfs me. Yet I’m
alone. The birds sing outside.

Yet I’m alone.
...

The wind rustled through
the trees, moving this
way and that
and the leaves began to
...

Genghis Kahn rode through the land,
across mountains and plains
cutting me down, leaving me in shreds. But
I rose. The old university at Nalanda
...

I didn’t see it coming. My cup
was full and overflowing. You picked at
your food staring over my head
...

It got in the way,

that’s what they said. They
needed space for the road for
...

A small hand reaches out; cupped. Held
against the closed window
of the car at the head of the line.
...

Remember, you said, that day. People
falling from the sky like stars,
burnt out flares unable to cling on. Fire
...

Little child with the big gun
Do you know how to use it?
Have you seen what it can do, to
you, to others? Tear them into
...