The Way It Is Quotes

“Raise your sons to be
better humans, before you tell your
daughters
to cover up.”
― Shirani Rajapakse, The Way It Is

“He never
had a chance
even with his brown black
black brown arms
up in the air.
Unarmed.
Undone. Was it the color
or something else? We can only guess
why bullets fly from guns in white hands into
brown black,
black brown,
brown black brown
painting streets red.”
― Shirani Rajapakse, The Way It Is

“Democracy rules, you know. We have
freedom of expression, or so
we are told, yet our lips are sealed with
unspoken threats.”
― Shirani Rajapakse, The Way It Is

“Your daughters are
receptors of knowledge, filled
with interesting ideas,
thoughts that could generate great
conversations, find solutions to the world’s
problems, if
you care to engage them in talk.
Don’t force them to be
something they are not, because your
sons have no control
over themselves.
Don’t shut them in,
imprison them
in shrouds, black cloaks
with only their eyes showing, covering
them up like corpses ready
to be thrown on
a communal burial heap.”
― Shirani Rajapakse, The Way It Is

“Waiting silently for the day
when everything changes and those
fortifications crumble, and you can stand up,
pull off the head scarf
let your hair dance in the sun
lift your face to the skies as your words fly
free like butterflies
on the breeze.”
― Shirani Rajapakse, The Way It Is

“w
Waiting silently for the day
when everything changes and those
fortifications crumble, and you can stand up,
pull off the head scarf
let your hair dance in the sun
lift your face to the skies as your words fly
free like butterflies
on the breeze.”
― Shirani Rajapakse, The Way It Is

“I sing out to the birds, but they have
flown away
and will not return
to recount stories of distant
places only they can visit.
No restrictions, no imprisonment.
They can move
beyond the walls of hate
while I remain
trapped
inside this cage.”
― Shirani Rajapakse, The Way It Is