Colombo, Jaffna, Peace and Conflict, Poetry, Vavuniya

At Your Service

Islanders always like to baila,
party, party, nibble the ear

whispering, pump themselves
with arrack and go courting

on the Green, but in these
holidays at year’s end

dedicated to forgetting
the war and all those gadflies

buried in graves, some families
mourn their heroes away

from the headlights’ glare
of vans without license plates

that remain in service waiting
to be summoned when necessary.