Thank you for your contributions to the 100 word page on “SHORT” an interesting medley – confusion after death of a life cutshort, a short but worthwhile life, a short frock, a short man, something short but worth it – all these fixed expressions here. The 100 word page values your imagination – how you [...]

The Sunday Times Sri Lanka

100 Words since 1997

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Thank you for your contributions to the 100 word page on “SHORT” an interesting medley – confusion after death of a life cutshort, a short but worthwhile life, a short frock, a short man, something short but worth it – all these fixed expressions here.

The 100 word page values your imagination – how you use words to chart imaginative worlds for the reader, how you make the reader look and see differently.

Sometimes then, the less you say, the better. So some work has been edited to make it open to different interpretations.

Please send in your contributions by March 2, 2016 to the 100 Word page, C/o Madhubashini Dissanayake-Ratnayake, The Sunday Times, No. 8 Hunupitiya Crossroad, Colombo 2

Height Fight
Over the years he had learned
Not to take to heart
The pitying looks, awed stares
Critical comments
Concerning his diminutive height.
The fact that he was
A dwarf, midget
Or even an elf or a gnome,
As fantastical children supposed,
Was undoubtedly accepted.
Yet he fiercely clung
Unwaveringly to a thread of truth
That had held him together
For years:
Bodily stature isn’t all that counts.
As for diligence, persistence and wisdom
He was nothing short
Of those traits.

Rebekah Angela Fernando.

 

For a while
She swirled in front of the mirror
Posing in different ways
Clingy dress accentuating
Her curves and cleavage
Child, that dress is too short!
A shriek from mum
As usual making noises
No sense of fashion
Or the latest trendy styles
She mused in despair
The contest began
The glitterati favoured her
Beauty Queen over night
Dimpled face adorned
Fashion magazines
And news papers
A short stint
Crown passed over
The years rolled on
Very few remembered her
Cos memories are short
Only good deeds are
Remembered
Not short dresses
Or tights

Keerthi Wijekulasuriya

 

We lamented

Your life, so vibrant -
So effervescent -
So bright -
So beautiful -
Was so short.
In your youth -
You were plucked beloved -
By cruel hands of fate.
Yet, in that short span
You lived gloriously,
Shinning splendidly,
Touching a million lives.
All who live to a ripe old age
Have not had the sparkling wonder -
Of your short life -
Brilliantly lived.

Priscilla Pereira
135/A/1, Boyagama Rd, Pilimatalawa.

 

All glitter and gleam
At the sight of him
A bubble of pleasure
Rose in my heart.
Mind and heart are at odds,
Heart gets carried away
In a bubble of love.
Mind speaks sense to my head,
“Bubbles are fine
Lovely to look at but fleeting
A rainbow of hues
Light as air
Burst at a touch
Leaves but a liquid drop!”
Soul intervenes pleasantly,
“Love’s a sweet emotion
Love’s a dream
Let it be, let it be
A short – lived bubble
All glitter and gleam.”

Kamala Gunasekera
Mirihana

 

Think before you leap
One step, two steps and three, will I be there
On the opposite side?
Before the on-coming vehicle in the distance overtakes me?
How am I to know
When with a crash-bang – I am no more.

Troubles, troubles, like the ocean arise,
Should I step from the edge of this bridge?
Will the angels enwrap me? or
Should I wish for fins like the fish to swim?
Why should I stop to think?
I would probably hit my head on a hard rock
And sink, is it
Too late now? No! So, think before you leap.

S. Bandaranayake.
113, Lady Gordons Drive,
Kandy

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