Sri Lanka, March 22 -- World Poetry Day is on March 21. So what, one may possibly ask. Poetry is not medicine. Poetry is not engineering. Poetry is not law. In essence, poetry is not finance. It does not generate money. And poets are a species who live in an abstract sphere with hardly anything to contribute to the world. So why on earth should we celebrate such a useless subject on a specific day?

True, but pause for a moment. Let us take it this way. Medicine heals the body, and poetry the soul. Engineering builds bridges, and poetry spans the chasms of human experience. Law governs society, but poetry governs the heart. And finance? Well, poetry may not generate wealth, but it certainly enriches lives in ways no currency ever could. ...