Il pleure dans mon cœur par Paul Verlaine - Sinhala version

මගේ හදවත හඬා වැළපෙයි 

වැසි වසිනා ලෙසට නුවරට 

කිමද මේ සන්තාපය 

මසිත පසාරු කරවන ?

මහ පොලොව හා පියැසි මත 

චිචිරි චිචිරි ගා වැටෙන වැහිබිඳු 

ගීයකි ය අගනා කන්කළු 

මලානිකව ගිය හදකට

අහේතුකවම කඳුලැලි සලයි සිත 

ගිලන් කරමින් හදවත 

නමුත් නැත කිසිදු රැවටීමක්, විරහයක් 

මේ දොම්නසට හේතුවක්!

ආලයක් වෛරයක් නොමැති වත් 

මහද වැළපේනම් නිතිත් 

හේතුවක් නොදැනීම නොවෙද 

දැරිය නොහැකිම දුක මෙලොව?

Translated by Jahooli Devi

Woman Body

I was born a woman

My body is my jewel

I wear it, humbly

Not shouting too much

« Look, I've got a jewel! »

Because

I know what it is to be a Woman

of Black, White, Yellow, Brown

Or Invisible.

Haunted by the nightmares of slavery

Hurt & deceived by the illusions of love

Blood still flows in my memory

more than the wounds of harsh whips

on my body,

It survived

like a hard rock

with a soft fragile heart

over centuries

to tell you that story...

My body is a temple

full of serenity

that I worship

Today

That needs to be worshiped too

I love, forget, forgive there

It is holy then

I am proud of it

You should too...

Le corps de la femme

Je suis née femme

Mon corps est un joyau

Je le porte discrètement  

Sans clamer :

"Hé! J'ai un joyau!"

Car,

Je sais ce que c'est qu'être une femme:

Noire, Blanche, Jaune, Marron,

Ou Invisible!

Tourmentée par les affres de l'esclavage 

Écorchée et abusée par les chimères de l'amour 

Le sang coule davantage en ma mémoire 

que des plaies du fouet cruel 

sur mon corps

Il a survécu solide comme une pierre 

avec un cœur fragile à travers les âges 

pour vous conter cette histoire...

Mon corps est un temple de la sérénité

Que je vénère 

Aujourd'hui

Qui demande à être vénéré aussi 

J'y aime, oublie, pardonne

Il est sacré alors

J'en suis fière

Vous devriez l'être aussi...

Written & Translated By Jahooli Devi

Artichoke Hearts

Are you simply choked up because of your Artichoke heart?

Artichoke is a vegetable! 

How come a vegetable has a place in a literary blog?

There is an expression in French " avoir un cœur d'un artichaut" originates from the proverb " coeur d'artichaut, une feuille pour tout le monde" which can be directly translated to English as to have an artichoke heart, a leaf for everyone" 

This expression is used to refer to someone who falls in love very easily, who is very inconstant in love as well as who is ready to love anyone who comes across on his or her way. 

Sometimes, people use this with negative connotation to refer to someone who has a fickle mind. It is not same as Don Juans who constantly go after love, rather the Artichokes fall in love with several people because they never had a long term love affair even though they are all ready for that.

How do you know that you have an Artichoke heart?

As soon as you meet a man or a woman, you fall in love easily. ( You are at the dinner date, you have already imagined your wedding & perhaps trying to cook artichoke for your future husband!)

You always believe that you just found your soul mate. ( He or She is born for you, that God decided to send this angel to love you forever) 

Love is the only word that interests you & you constantly think about it. ( The day that the word LOVE ceases, you would die too, of course with your Artichoke! ) 

You have a lot of love failures in life because you love selflessly, without expecting any love in return. ( I love you because I love you, now, keep on telling that looking at the sky because the person you love is busy buying artichokes for his new girl friend)

Problems encountered by Artichokes:

She or He gives a little bit of love to everyone who shows at least a bit of interest in them ( As it it is his or her DUTY to love the world , voilà une feuille pour toi, mange! ( Here is a leaf for you, eat !)

But, most of the time , these artichokes love people who don't merit at least a rotten artichoke. It is their problem.  Therefore , they go through many deceptions in love, suffer always , complain about their over cooked hearts.

The tragedy with these vegetables is that the day they meet the real lover, who expects real love & care, they no longer have any leaves to offer them because everything was given to useless people.

Think about  your friends who are like Artichokes, they must be really tired by now.  The only advise, we can give them is to keep their vegetable heart in the freezer, so one day, they can offer it to someone who really wants to eat it.

By Jahooli Devi