{"id":82857,"date":"2013-04-18T10:54:46","date_gmt":"2013-04-18T05:24:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=82857"},"modified":"2013-04-21T11:00:11","modified_gmt":"2013-04-21T05:30:11","slug":"us-and-the-modern-monsters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/us-and-the-modern-monsters\/","title":{"rendered":"Us And The Modern Monsters"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Basil Fernando<\/a><\/span> –<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Basil Fernando<\/p><\/div>\n

Kavi Kola \u2013 Poetry Sheets (1):\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0Us and the Modern Monsters<\/strong><\/p>\n

Cry, my beloved country, cry.<\/p>\n

Loudly ask why<\/p>\n

Do not let the monsters<\/p>\n

Smash out the light.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Look at those three hoodless vans<\/p>\n

In the thick of darkness coming,<\/p>\n

Keeping measured distances.<\/p>\n

They move slowly.<\/p>\n

One in front carries<\/p>\n

Young prisoners from a camp<\/p>\n

And a few soldiers.<\/p>\n

They each take a prisoner<\/p>\n

Throw them into the air,<\/p>\n

As children throw balloons.<\/p>\n

A marksman takes aim,<\/p>\n

Moving his expert fingers.<\/p>\n

A few soldiers rush out of the third van,<\/p>\n

Pour petrol and set fire<\/p>\n

To the wounded youths.<\/p>\n

Three vans move again,<\/p>\n

Keeping measured distances,<\/p>\n

Till the next prisoner is thrown like a balloon.<\/p>\n

When Kerosene runs out,<\/p>\n

The van begins its return, taking back<\/p>\n

A single surviving prisoner.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In a mass grave at Matale<\/p>\n

Remains of one-hundred<\/p>\n

And fifty bodies are excavated.<\/p>\n

Some, among so many<\/p>\n

In the South, North and East.<\/p>\n

Such are the works of new monsters,<\/p>\n

Created by the marriage of<\/p>\n

Modern physics and ancient metaphysics.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Modern monsters more sinister<\/p>\n

Than a nine-headed poisonous dragon,<\/p>\n

Medusa or Minotaur.<\/p>\n

Thesius, Perseus and Hercules<\/p>\n

Too weak to tame<\/p>\n

The modern monsters,<\/p>\n

Created out of new concoctions.<\/p>\n

Perhaps, the depths of all oceans,<\/p>\n

And ocean-like human minds,<\/p>\n

Must be stirred, again and again\u2026<\/p>\n

Till a new potent concoction,<\/p>\n

Emerges with powers<\/p>\n

To annihilate the modern monsters.<\/p>\n

Cry, my beloved country, cry.<\/p>\n

Till out of the abyss of our desolation<\/p>\n

New giants may arise,<\/p>\n

Who, unlike Hellenistic heroes,<\/p>\n

Will posses the psychic power<\/p>\n

To melt away our collective burden.<\/p>\n

*Basil Fernando published his first volume of poems A New Era to Emerge in 1972. Since then, he has published several volumes of poems in English and two collections in Sinhala. His poems have appeared in several Sri Lankan and international anthologies. His poems have been translated into many Western and Asian languages. A translated anthology of his poems was published in Malayalam entitled Sundaramaithry. In 1983, he and Richard Zoysa shared the first prize for poetry in New Ceylon Writings, published by Professor Yasmin Gunaratne. His poems are available here<\/a><\/span>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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