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Ilankai Tamil Sangam

Association of Tamils of Sri Lanka in the USA

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Burning Bright

Remembering the 1958 anti-Tamil pogrom

by Fr. Chandi Sinnathurai

Black was the smoke; while the Tamils burnt alive
Bodies which were charred beyond recognition
Ignited by the racist Sinhala State terror!

Red was the blood; spurting out from Tamil throats
Murdered in broad daylight in busy streets
The only crime of these innocents was to be born a Tamil!

July '83 was black; the clouds of burning smoke darkened the sun
It was blood-bath. A continuation of holocaust
In the present tense, not just the distant past.

Sri Lanka EelamThere were no gas chambers, nor was here a visible Hitler
But the subtle causes and effects of ideology were identical
Alas! Illankai is burning again…

Today it's claymore landmines, Kfir jets' bombings
Abductions, extrajudicial executions and mass graves
But the State tells the world a lie; playing the terrorist card!

July is a black hole of racist critical mass
Red is raging poppies and scarlet thread
Remembering the Tamils’ dying in a slow-genocide

Red is a reminder of the innocent blood that’s spilling every day
Red is to recognise the crimes against humanity perpetrated by the State
Alas! Ilankai is burning again…while the world is playing a giant fiddle!

                        

Dedicated to all those who are dying under State terror in Sri Lanka.

Ilankai = Tamil word for Ceylon/Sri Lanka. 
"Nero fiddled while Rome burned."                   

Refer - July 1983

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