Jaffna Children 1

Jaffna Children 2

And in Jaffna’s limestone soil
Where chalk appears as jewels next to the black board
So brilliant, they make light traverse
A great divide.

Here children, who were too young for war,
Weather the storms and come up on
The other sides like tiger sharks
Who carve through destiny’s waters
With fins made of steel

And how beautiful is education
Those light rods that light up the midnight
Sky of a blackboard, waiting to be plucked
By little minds, like the apples of Hesperides
That immortalizes the treasure,

Of what it is, to be disengaged
From ignorance.

Published by Curiosity-driven life (Dilantha Gunawardana)

Dr Dilantha Gunawardana graduated from the University of Melbourne, as a molecular biologist, and moonlights as a poet. He currently serves as a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Botany, University of Sri Jayewardenepura. Dilantha lives in a chimeric universe of science and poetry. Dilantha’s poems have been accepted for publication /published in HeartWood Literary Magazine, Canary Literary Magazine, Boston Accent, Forage, Kitaab, Eastlit, American Journal of Poetry, Zingara Poetry Review, The Wagon and Ravens Perch, among others. Dilantha too has two anthologies of poetry, 'Kite Dreams' (2016) and 'Driftwood' (2017), both brought to the readership by Sarasavi Publishers, and is working on his third poetry collection (The Many Constellations of Home). Dilantha’s pet areas of teaching and research, include, Nitrogen Fixation, RNA biology, Phytoremediation, Agricultural Biology, and Bioethics & Biosafety. Dilantha blogs at – https://meandererworld.wordpress.com/ -, where he has nearly 2000 poems. View all posts by Curiosity-driven life (Dilantha Gunawardana)