Not for them

Came into recall mode on hearing of the newly released film "Prathiru" .... 

They made a business
of this war
for so long.
For nearly
thirty years',
it is my blood,
my life and my soul,
they sold.

Yet, I was willing
to forgive and forget.
For
what else
could I do,
hapless, helpless?

I heard songs
singing my praises.                                                                                                    Parades,
where they salute us.

Limbs for the limbless,
arms for the armless.
Monuments built,
I see,
with donations on TV.

Wije’s mother
got a fancy packet
in compensation
for the loss of her son.
They
bought her grief
and my colleague’s soul.
I just can not
let that happen,
I thought
only when
I saw Gune,
next to me
on the bunker floor
gaze in my eyes, 
wet with tears,
blood
on the corner of his mouth,
reaching out for a breath of life …

I said NO.
Enough is enough. I will not
let them ever again
buy my soul.

I will fight, fight to the end.

Not for them,
but for us.

 

by Renton de Alwis
Written in June 2009