Teardrop


The teardrop,
the shape
the continents
gave to our land

when they split

and made the Bay of Bengal
put the fish in the sea
and designed the beach

for the landing craft of men
who swing their ropes out
at night, breakfast on fish

and spend their days
hunting villagers for meat and wine,
hunting villagers for televisions,

hunting villagers
to put them in a family way
in the family house

plastered clean and whitewashed,
the homes of the friendly hamlet,
Jaffna buoys in the Sun

on the high street, by the well road,
gardens full of mango and jack
and soldiers waving cricket bats.

 

Indran Amirthanayagam, "Teardrop," The Elephants of Reckoning. Brooklyn: Hanging Loose Press, 1993. p. 46

 

 

 

Retour au plan de travail

Retour à la page d'accueil