Poetry: Autobiography of the Poet by Indunil Madhusankha

 
I am the poet
carrying a luggage of roles
all of which I play with equal interest

I am the talkative lover
who knocks on the door of your heart
and having entered,
bursts into a torrid tete-a-tete
with your inner self
and sings fantastic flirtations

I am the justice in the court
betokening perfect impartiality
and never guilty of distorting the truth
None receives the least pardon from me
for any offence

I am the policeman
following the thugs
with a baton
and filing a case against them

I am the overpowering magician
My virility, more ebullient
than that of a gunman or a swordsman
In case they can only kill a person
Yet I influence the latter
and charge the battery of his heart

I am the labourer
digging out moth eaten rubbish mounds
and recycling them

Yet, I am the poet,
the very slight poet,
still…