Day 07

day 07- a poem that reminds me of a certain event

Just as I was reading this poem, the last day at math tuition struck me. It was somewhere around 02.00 in the morning when we were done with practising heavy past paper sums for the Math OL paper from 3 in the evening. After crunching ordered Pizzas, racing sums and throwing laughter with our hands to our bellies and mouths, it was hard to leave a group of us. A mixed bunch.
This is one of the late Sivaramani's poem translated by Lakshmi Holmstrom, written during her days at the Jaffna University

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Place: Jaffna University
Time: 4.30 pm

An evening,
Solitary
as a small deserted railway station
wall rising between us
with each smile

we talk desultorily,
my friends and I.
These moments are of no importance-
only a reaching out for cheerfulness
inspite of our wounds
There are no words to share

A friend's finger taps
admist the splashed tea
in time to a forgotten song.
Drunk on tea, flies
are trapped in cobwebs above.
Someone shakes her shoulders,
laughing quietly
Who made a joke?
I didnt hear.

Clouds move past
the glass window panes.
So does time
minute by minute
leaving no trace no scent.

The westering sun enters the door
to drive us from the tables,
the chairs, the empty cups.
We rise to our feet and leave-
not to change the world:
only to enter another night.