A Heart That Never Forgets

Binu Peiris

Over the high walls of the white mansions where our money lay,

Our youth sped their way holding the tears of our motherland.

This is a history that our young historians wrote,

Silencing the mouth of the great, skilled orator,

Dancing to the tunes of a plea that stirred this one earth.

This is I, the youth remembering a past that lit Galle Face Green.

Remembering is the curse we seek,

Remembering is the curse we keep.

The whole of India burns as I write,

I worship my God for the memory I keep.

Here I am, a young Lankan breathing fragments of a past;

A past that I lived, that with pride I still carry.

I write from the wounds of the young boy who fought,

I write from the empty belly of the young girl who lies still,

I write from the anger that we all carry as we kneel before a power,

A power that rules from the mouth that runs,

A power that deems the young hearts that plead as

cockroaches that attack; parasites of society.

I feel the pellets that cracked the young skin,

I feel the pain that screams in fury.

Here I am, a young Lankan breathing the fragments of a past.

I speak from a history that continues,

I speak from a heart that never forgets.

Binu Peiris is an undergraduate in the Department of English at the University of Colombo.

Image source: https://bit.ly/4biRxTb

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