When I open the pages of memory, twenty years behind,
The scent of our soil,
The smoke of war,
The fire of courage
Flood my entire being.
That was –
The land soaked in our blood,
Raised by our very lives,
Fulfilled by our dreams –
Our motherland… Tamil Eelam.
Though there were no glittering palaces of wealth,
The pillars of our homes
Were built with the frost of our toil,
The sweat of our brows,
And the faith in our hearts.
Not by the charity of others,
But by the harvest of our own hands
We placed food upon our tables.
Fields where the sun played upon the green,
Fishing boats where the waves sang,
Workshops where the fragrance of labour lingered –
Every person stood firm on their own feet.
And more than that –
Upon our land stood
A free Tamil Eelam government.
A government was not just a name –
It was the fortress of our order.
Schools –
Even as the battlefield surrounded us,
Our children clutched their textbooks.
Hospitals –
Even in the midst of offensives,
They became sanctuaries of compassion, saving lives.
Courts –
Where the scales of justice never tilted,
Where fairness stood tall.
Police stations –
Guardians of peace,
Protecting the calm of the people.
Public administration –
Letters, documents,
Seals, and signatures
Functioned in fine order.
Transport services –
Carrying people to their destinations
Even through the shadow of bombs.
Radio Tamil Eelam –
The voice of our hearts,
Carrying our words across the world.
Tamil Eelam Television –
The light of our faces,
The reflection of our voice.
All of this was made possible by –
The disciplined governance of the Liberation Tigers,
Whose order, dedication, and discipline
Showed the world the true meaning of a nation.
The people of that time –
Tigers who safeguarded unity,
Warriors who held dedication in their hearts,
Guardians who cherished Tamil as their very life.
But today,
That land – the soil that drank our blood,
The sky that once waved our flag of freedom –
Stands in silence.
To the younger generation, I call –
You are the heirs to these symbols.
Sow courage in your hearts,
Mix Tamil into your blood,
Raise unity in your minds.
For one day,
The Tamil Eelam of tomorrow –
Will rise again
Upon your shoulders,
Through your sacrifice.
Eelaththu Nilavan
“Tamil runs in my veins,
Courage breathes in my lungs,
My words are the history of my homeland.”
