This compelling debut collection of poems and prose by Dinali Virasinghe takes you on a moving journey of self-enquiry grounded in a passionate love for the Earth and unsettled by the questioning of the systems and structures underpinning our globalised world.

Meaning

Some spend their lives searching.

Seeking here, there and everywhere

for the one Truth that will

give meaning and structure

to the complex chaos that is life.

Others early on imbibe a belief

that to them is the One Right Way.

To this they adhere with rigid faith.

Finding strength and peace

in how it makes sense of the world.

As the fabric of our society falls

to fervent globalised individualism

people cling even more strongly

to these mythologies constructed

from the world as we experience it.

When your belief differs from another’s belief

in zealous blindness you fight and kill.

Tear our world apart even more

in vain attempts to retain some control

in this vast and indifferent hierarchy.

In this madness you never stop to ask

What meaning is there

in becoming a killer,

in ending life to prove a point

when your faiths hold sacrosanct life itself?

Battles rage over whose divinity

is the one true God, Allah, Yahweh.

Squabbles over names and rituals.

While the fundamental teaching

of universal love is ignored.

So many artificial divisions.

So much senseless death and destruction.

Why not celebrate the commonalities?

The need for clean air, water and soil.

The ingenuity and creativity of humanity.

If we put aside our warring

and work towards ways of being

that preserve the essentials of life

and celebrate its wondrous diversity,

what beautiful worlds we could create.

Poem From

Meanderings On The Margins

Written By

Dinali Virasinghe

Meanderings on the Margins explores themes of purpose, identity, diversity and love. Dinali’s experience of moving to Australia at a young age, her travels as an adult and work as an environmentalist have shaped her ideas about belonging and how to live well in a world falling apart.

Dinali Virasinghe only began writing poetry in her 30s, finding catharsis in expressing herself in this form. She published her debut book Meandering on the Margins in 2022 and has her own blog.