A military officers' anthology of Sinhala and English poems to be launched on Saturday

“Sith Mal Dam”, an anthology of poems by Albert Petikitiarachchi, will be launched on January 11 at 9 a.m. at the Town, Council Public Library auditorium on Queen Mary Road in Gamapaha. The book is published by S. Godage and Brothers (Pvt ) Ltd.

Having read the book, I realised that the poems both in Sinhala and English are not merely a combination of lines with stressed and unstressed syllables of words being formed into verses, but they are enriched with a combination of feelings and emotions expressed sensitively and imaginatively with control of language to be appreciated critically by the reader. The author has composed the poems both in structured verses and in the form of free style.

The symbolism, metaphorical expressions and their impressions and sensibilities to words are found to be in relation to our thoughts conceived in our minds but hidden in the heaving ripples due to superficial distractions.

I believe the writer has successfully conveyed the intended message to us through his poetic conversations. I wish to quote a verse from the poem, “Marigolds”.

“Marigolds, you look straight up Posing too proud to yield Swaying to the tune of the breeze, That peeps cool through the field.” Here he has used the ballad meter, the iambic tetrameter alternates with trimeter rhyming a,b,c,b.

The whole poem is about a battle in the human mind between the human pride and social needs. It encourages the present day youth to be proactive in their social behaviour to achieve their targets.

Prof. Aruna Munasinghe, a literary critic and visiting consultant physician at the Gampaha District Hospital, in his preface to the book says the poems prompted him to reflect on his schooldays and appreciate the work of Wordsworth and the like.

Also Dr. Priyanwada Wanigasuriya, a Kalaniya University senior lecturer, has commended that the author being an ex- serviceman in the rank of Lt. Colonel, has taken a step forward to present his creative work and emerge as a poet as he completes 80 years of his life.

“Sith Mal Dam” is a book that should not be missed by literature lovers.

I wish him good luck and long life!

- M.P. Priyanka Dilahani Senior Assistant Librarian, the Post Graduate Institute of Medicine, the University of Colombo.