"you are no fool, I know - but are you not trying to fool all us?"
by Basil Fernando
[June 16, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian]
Medananda let us have a chat
Two citizens one to one.
You said in an interview to BBC
You object to
having time limits to presidents
to hold power.
OUR KINGS you said,
Had no such restrictions
Vasaba ruled forty four years
Made eleven big tanks, no.
In you mind you equate
Presidents with kings
And forget the very meaning
of a Janarajaya, a republic.
Centuries of political thought
From times of kings to rulers
with limited powers
you dismiss.
have you ever thought
why kings were abolished
may be your mind does not grasp
such changes.
Wiser political thought
Said that power corrupt
And absolute power corrupts, absolutely
You dismiss such thoughts
As harmful sayings of Parayahs,
Have Sri Lankan rulers no “Thanha”?
Do they not rob, kill
Are they not foolish, corrupt, arrogant, ruthless?
Do no wrongs, as do other rulers
Of other lands?
Have our rulers reached the stage of “Arahat”
Are they not made of same moral stuff, like you and me?
you are no fool, I know
but are you not trying to fool all us?
Or have lost your common sense.
If that be the case,
I recommend you to read, Thomas Paine
To know meaning of a Janarajaya, a republic
You may dismiss him also,
As a parayah. if you so wish
A chat with Medhananda
