Midweek Review
Restorer of a Priceless Identity
By Lynn Ockersz
It was left to that edifying dramatist,
Professor Ediriweera Sarachchandra,
Of ‘Maname’ and ‘Sinhabahu’ fame,
Whose memory is to date cherished;
To give back to the Isle its identity,
Which was trampled underfoot,
Over centuries by invading Jackboots,
By breathing into local folk drama new life,
And rendering it supple enough to carry,
The human’s enduring joys and torments,
Like the lovers’ trills on beholding beauty,
Or the agonizing love of a father for his son,
Crafted in a Sinhala of the ‘Sandeshe Kavya’ kind,
Mellifluous, rhythmic, profound in meaning.