Last Saturday when you went back from leave
I watched until you disappeared over the bend
And long after, until my breast gave a great heave
And lit the lamp before the Buddha and prayed no end.
On Wednesday when the crow cried on the dead branch
And the sky coloured over the colour of charcoal
I had no fears I knew you were safe
I had your horoscope read and there were no malefics.
But on Thursday when they bore you home
I did not know what to think
It was as if I had slept a long sleep
And saw things in a haze between life and death.
Was it on Saturday that we bathed together at the village well
And you boy-like threw stones at the sneering frogs
And drank deeply of the scent of the giant palm
That had ominously broken its splendid fragrant?
Looking back now I seem to see things I never saw before
The way you hung behind me and touch my hair
The way you leaned against the door
And watched me as I bustled about.
They gave him a hero burial
With all military honours
The band Played
And your body passed from hand to hand
I saw everything from inside a mist
The drone of voices like a plane
Making it's uncertain way through the clouds
I think they spoke of the way of life and death
I think of the barren years
Stretching like a road swaying through a desert
And wonder how to preoccupy myself
How to make the days go forward.
On weekends I have nothing to do
I spread the white wedding saree on the floor
And contemplate how how I stood on the poruwa with you
Shyly tying the piece of white cloth around my waist.
How wrong the horoscope readers were ......................
(written by Kamala Wijeratne a Sri Lankan soldier's wife who lost her loving husband due to war)
Sourse - English tut
And long after, until my breast gave a great heave
And lit the lamp before the Buddha and prayed no end.
On Wednesday when the crow cried on the dead branch
And the sky coloured over the colour of charcoal
I had no fears I knew you were safe
I had your horoscope read and there were no malefics.
But on Thursday when they bore you home
I did not know what to think
It was as if I had slept a long sleep
And saw things in a haze between life and death.
Was it on Saturday that we bathed together at the village well
And you boy-like threw stones at the sneering frogs
And drank deeply of the scent of the giant palm
That had ominously broken its splendid fragrant?
Looking back now I seem to see things I never saw before
The way you hung behind me and touch my hair
The way you leaned against the door
And watched me as I bustled about.
They gave him a hero burial
With all military honours
The band Played
And your body passed from hand to hand
I saw everything from inside a mist
The drone of voices like a plane
Making it's uncertain way through the clouds
I think they spoke of the way of life and death
I think of the barren years
Stretching like a road swaying through a desert
And wonder how to preoccupy myself
How to make the days go forward.
On weekends I have nothing to do
I spread the white wedding saree on the floor
And contemplate how how I stood on the poruwa with you
Shyly tying the piece of white cloth around my waist.
How wrong the horoscope readers were ......................
(written by Kamala Wijeratne a Sri Lankan soldier's wife who lost her loving husband due to war)
Sourse - English tut
