TAMIL NATIONAL FORUM

Selected Writings -  Fr. Chandiravarman Sinnathurai,
Thondaimanarru, Tamil Eelam

Redemption Song
[Dedicated to the heroic memory of
all the writers and journalists assassinated by the Sri Lanka State]

4 February 2006

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Subramaniam Sugirtharajan, the Tamil Journalist who reported extra judicial execution of 5 Tamils by the Sri Lanka Military in Trincomalee on 2 January 2006, was shot dead by Sri Lanka Para Military Forces on 24 January 2006.... and before that Dharmaretnam Sivaram, Aiyathurai Nadesan, Nimalarajan and many more....

The pen is mightier than the sword
So I’m told
‘Cause the idea is bigger than a single Man;
Once it’s planted; it sprouts
It grows into a marvelous Sycamore tree!

The idea we share,
With hearts and minds who really care
So we dream of that Day
For the dove will descend on the Sycamore tree!

The Pen in my Tamil land
Drips Virar blood –
Flesh of my flesh; bones of my bones are crucified.
For they wrote what they witnessed,
Maravar blood of the Crucified Thiyagi sown in the Eelam soil,
They will rise again; and so we console our spirit.

Beneath the shade of the Sycamore tree
The widows and the orphans congregate:
In agonizing quartertones;
Tears now turn into that bloody ‘red thing’…
There is solemn dignity.

A lad of martial courage beats the Royal Melam
With eloquent tongue sings a song of lamentation:
The Tiger will not search for a rat to catch!

Our simple tears
Feed the parched ground
Hollow men try to order our ancient habitats.
Genocide continues…
Like a candle flame caught in the monsoon rain
Our resolve has not diminished

The Sycamore tree, simply utters a pregnant whisper:
For every pause; there must be a good reason
For each silence; there is a word of wisdom
For every worthy cause; hidden martyrs resurrect

Take up your pen
Write righteously
Resurrect the vision:
Shalom; Samathanam; Peace.

You hear the travailing groan floating in the sea-breeze:
The peace-child is still being born
Underneath the flamboyant Tree!