GIVE MY LAND ITS PRIDE AGAIN
(A POEM WRITTEN IN A BANKRUPT COUNTRY)
- Kamala Wijeratne
(Sri
Lanka)
Young menline the passport
queues
They seek passage to
unseen havens,
To dig canals in SAUDI
ARABIA,
To clean lavatories in OMAN,
To tap rubber in Malaysia,
To dig trenches in Sharjah
THAT IS THEIR PRIDE
Young women brawl before
agencies
Human cargo soon to be
packaged,
And delivered anywhere
To any part of the world
Mothers who have left
their hearths
Wives who have forsaken
their husbands
They brawl to flee the
motherland
Weeds cover their gardens
Jungles invade their
farmlands
Iron chains in their grey cells
They flee to seek slavery
****