Where does peace rest?
Natasha Ranawake
For the People of Palestine
In the quiet rush of light that stands still,
in a pool of faith and hope,
where does peace rest?
Within a beating heart of a child,
within the names of those we lost,
where does peace rest?
In laughter of the running children,
in the first word of babe, mother or father,
where does peace rest?
In the waters rippling in a riverbank,
in all that’s pure and clean and calming,
where does peace rest?
In constant wreck of human life,
in blisters burnt against skin,
where does peace rest?
In cries of children, New Year’s Eve,
in empty palms scarred by horrors inflicted,
where does peace rest?
Within a word of prayer that’s spoken,
within the days of fires uncounted,
where does peace rest?
In the void of suffering stolen sunsets,
in pieces of what’s left in ruin,
where does peace rest?
Where does peace rest?
In breaking a world that people lived in,
in burning the dreams of those they afflicted.
Within the smile of those they haunted,
within the lives they grasped
from living to survival,
where does peace in this world rest?
Natasha Ranawake is a 21-year-old student, who discovered power poetry during the Pandemic to tell the stories that really matter.
Image Credit: (c) Malak Mattar, No Words, 2024
You May Also Like…
Obeyesekere the Dreamer: Visionary Journeys in Anthropology
Anushka Kahandagamage
I remember vividly one pattern in my youthful dreams repeated time and again, without too much variation, that of...
Gananath Obeyesekere: The Anthropologist and the Historian
John D. Rogers
I first met Gananath at the Annual Conference of the Association for Asian Studies in Washington DC in March 1984,...
The Creation of the Hunter. The Vädda Presence in the Kandyan Kingdom: A Re-Examination. Gananath Obeyesekere. Colombo: Sailfish, 2022.
R. S. Perinbanayagam
Robert Siddharthan Perinbanayagam died on 5 November 2025 in New York City where he lived most of his life. Born in...