Dancing In Sympathy (Mullaitivu)

Six boys
from Hindu College
will enter the scene
from Stage Left,

an equal
number of girls
from Muslim Ladies
Stage Right.

They will shake
their bodies,
slide and writhe,
and be still

to rid bones
of chains
and memories,
and invite

guests, us,
to sway
in harmony
even if

we’re away
from jungles
which give
shelter, or

ash-filled
homes
whose roofs
are open

to whistling
bombs
and winds
that sweep

left-overs
clean. That
Boxing Day
the Tsunami

swept
residents
out; now
the Army

marches in
four years
later to find
an abandoned

town, and
in nearby
woods
yakshas

howling
in Tamil
calling
for food

and water,
medicine,
safe passage
south…

while in
the capital,
as I imagine
the performance

must end,
on a stage
a boy and girl
will embrace.

January 27, 2009

Part of the Writers Under Siege collection on Groundviews. For more information, click here. For a response to these poems by award winning poet Sivamohan Sumathy, please click here.