Innocence Lost

By Lynn Ockersz

During times of sloth five decades ago,

When Freedom thrills slowly waned,

Sri Lanka lost its innocence,

And became unrecognisable even to itself,

When the youthful ranks of its citizens,

Chased the timeless dream of an equal state,

By choosing the path of violence,

As the means to their elusive end,

But paid the supreme price in the process,

When they were hunted and brutally done to death,

By the power wielders of the day,

And the land remains stunned to this day,

Dogged by a fifty year legacy of bloodshed,

Misrule and undemocratic ways,

And this toxic cocktail goes easily down,

From one generation to the next…

A giant millstone it’s become round the isle’s neck.