Photograph by Pranith Wirasinha
Are we free in 2023?
To declare love and
friendship without
fear, without visits
from police or
blackmail from
nosy neighbors?
Are we free in 2023?
To deny low wages
or flagrant riches,
or laws that restrict
movements while
we walk on streets
hoisting placards
without confronting
police wielding lathis
and water cannon,
without trespassing
in high security zones,
and seeing loved ones
arrested under
the Prevention of
Terrorism Act?
Are we free in 2023?
To stroll on Galle Face Green
wearing Aragalaya
stamped on our tee shirts?
Are we free in 2023?
To demand the return
of lands taken by
the state in Mullaitivu,
throughout Jaffna
Peninsula, on
the East Coast?
Are we free in 2023?
To enact the 13th
Amendment, to get
local political power
to local politicians
and the people—who?–
yes, we who they represent?
Are we free in 2023?
To review disciplinary
rules for our national
cricket team,
for parliamentarians
and executives alike
who pretend to serve
as models for our youth?
On this 75th anniversary
of our independence
what can we say
about the unanswered
questions as well
as the ones
we answered right?
Let us celebrate heroes
who won the island back
from the colonial master,
and let us reflect on how
they and their successors
squandered the prize,
and how now we can
walk on the long path
towards freedom wearing
nothing on our bodies
but these words
in three national
languages:
I will be free in 2023.
