Tags
Alfreda de Silva, Avvai, Buddhadasa Galappathy, Lakshmi Holmstrom, Lines for Richard, Malini Govinnage, Richard de Zoysa, The Return, The Stealing of a Jeweled Lamp
BUDDHADASA GALAPPATHY
The Stealing of a Jeweled Lamp
Comrades, I need an answer
As to why you killed my husband
When he broke your law, the Law of Darkness
When you forbade the lighting of lamps
To make your point
He is not guilty
He obeyed your law
It was me
Who made him break it
For the offence
Of lighting a lamp
You have put out the lamp
That brought light to my household
It was not he who wanted it lit
But I, to quieten my little son
Who feared the darkness
I
Asked him to light the lamp
Where is your justice?
Why could you not find out
The reason he broke your law
Before you put out the lamp of my life?
Translated by Malini Govinnage
