When

by Roy Ratnavel, February 1, 2009

When Sri Lankan state unleashed its hate,

 World failed to defend Tamils’ fate.

When they killed without hesitation,

World stood still in hallucination.

When they sent us on boats to the North,

World looked at us as refugees of no worth.

When the Tsunami swallowed our families,

World treated us like we were anomalies.

When we saw murders with heart full of terror,

World looked in its rearview mirror.

When those devils did the slaughter,

World let Tamil lives become shorter.

When we stood-up peacefully against Racists,

World said we were Tamil Nationalists.

When we defended our dignity with vigor,

World said it was Tamil Terror.

When they burned our homes and shops,

When they raped our mothers and sisters,

When they imprisoned our fathers and sons,

 World said Sri Lanka needs more bombs and guns.

When terrified screams came from blood streams,

World’s inaction gave us horrible dreams.

When the civilized world lost its soul,

We saw Tamil bodies getting cold.

When slaughter started again in Sri Lanka,

When it turned into genocide like Rwanda,

When they destroyed our dignity with state terror,

World once again stood still, in silence – in error!

roy_ratnavel@hotmail.com