Poison to the soul

by Basil Fernando

Friend
When people say
Look at the brighter side of things
Shun them
For such sayings are poison to the soul
For in truth
Hope lies only in hopelessness
when you know
the darker side of brightness

Basil Fernando is a Sri Lankan poet and has published several collections of poems. An anthology of his poems entitled, Sundramaithry, has been translated into Malayalam by Dr. Dhanya Menon, and published in 2008. This is the first anthology of Sri Lankan poetry translated into any India language.

He is currently based in Hong Kong as Director of the Asian Human Rights Commission, Hong Kong.

His writings may be seen at www.basilfernando.net under literature.