In 1981 I went on the first of my many visits to Sri Lanka. Courtesy of my dear friend Louise, and Titus and the generous inhabitants of the village of Weligama, it was to become a home away from home for a few years. It’s hard to put into words the joy I felt living there, but the song gives a fair idea of how smitten I was with the place.
Alas real life punctured the idealised version of Sri Lankan
life I conjured up in these lyrics. Titus’ premature death in a road accident and
a 20 year long civil war put a stop to our magical visits there. (An account of
my return to Weligama after 20+ years is HERE.)
SRI LANKA
(You) surprise
me with your smiling eyes
A greeting
so warm for me
I’d like to
return your openliness
But Western
pent-up insecurities die hard
I’d like to look
at you as you look at me
But you
smile so much
People of
the Pearl – you’re charmed with a grace
Rarely
spotted in the family of man
Children of
paradise with Eden as your garden
No fences,
concrete, smog, or canned food
Noble
savages and little kings
Princes, princesses,
and kings
So regal in
your stance; so willing in your glance
To share the
joy of home and living
CHORUS
Sri Lanka I
don’t know thee
But already
I love thee
Sri Lanka I
don’t know thee
But already
I love thee
“To the
Family of Man we belong”
Twice you’ve
told me in these so few days
Respect for
your leaders and their path of neutrality
To warmth
and kindness, sympathy and charity
I see it in
your eyes to me
I see it in
your eyes to them – your countrymen
Loved,
chided, and left to wander
I can’t
forget the children
“Were you
once like they are now?” I ask the older ones
Do you know
how lucky you are?
To wander
these grasses, these jungles and beaches
Unfettered
by the world as it groans
Can it last?
Will it last? A monument to the beauty of people and places
CHORUS
Sri Lanka I
don’t know thee
But already
I love thee
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
(Copyright Michael Coghlan 1981)
