Bring me fresh spices from Trincomalee
How can I, they be all dead there
Cardamom, pepper, and orange leaf tea
Only arms and torso and head there
~
Vetiver, sandalwood, tales of yore
Colonizers were led there
Rivers of tears are what’s left of the war
Savagely mothers have bled there
~
Orphaned children amass at the graves
Who will see that they’re fed there?
The peace of existence that everyone craves
Forgot to be born and bred there
~
Show me the signs from the paradise hills
Angels now fear to tread there
As dusk descends and bird-call stills
Spirits howl in their bed there
~
Pearls and ships and eastern winds
Vast fortunes lay spread there
What nature offers, man rescinds
No one will rest their head there
~
The flowers are gone from Trincomalee
To adorn the pyres, they said there
And those of us left by fortune’s decree
Must shortly depart in dread there
Wisdom Wears Neon Pyjamas 
Vox populi