Jane Russell
“[This poem was presented] a small pamphlet called “Ganga” published in Colombo in 1978: it was aimed at the boasting men of violence everywhere – the Warriors of Terror whom in the guise of Freedom Fighters were inflicting further violence on already violated communities:
To Aloysius-Ludovico (The Terrorist)
I am tired of hearing you sing
the anthems of Freedom and War…
How joyously you crack the whip
and bellow out the tune above the drums!
But the faces of my friends haunt me
in the mornings when I see Death’s Armada
With its pirate’s flag of torture trailing….
what does it matter, your Freedom?
They are dying, my friends and their children…
Nalliah Thayabharan, thank you for reminding me of this poem written in despair in Colombo 30+ years ago. A whole generation has grown up since then but the same (better) poem is probably being written today in Syria by some unknown idealist…..as the song goes “When will we ever learn?”
The NOTE above is taken from an extended Comment by Jane Russell in 2012 in a Thuppahi item conveying an article by Rajan Philips in the Sunday Island of 26th February 2012 = https://thuppahi.wordpress.com/2012/02/26/handy-perinpanayagam-and-the-jaffna-youth-congress/ … a riveting series of comments that include important contributions by Jane Russell, Robert Sid Perinbanayagam and Nalliah Thayabaran.
It is so vital and relevant to the present-day situation in Sri Lanka and the world that I will be representing it separately.