Beaten and being left to bleed,
Your wealth robbed and respect shred,
By a murderous creed;
The future you dreamed but now dread,
For yourself and your sons,
Broken by words better unsaid.
They could break your bones, or use their guns,
What they couldn't break is your will,
Or the millenia of life through you that runs.
You fought the fire, stood strong and still,
You promised yourself to rise,
Even with odds against you and paths uphill,
At seventy two you stand tall and wise.
A son looks up to you, oh nation of mine,
As you now soar above the skies.
Like a guiding light, like a star you shine,
Brighter than the fire you fought.
Your wealth robbed and respect shred,
By a murderous creed;
The future you dreamed but now dread,
For yourself and your sons,
Broken by words better unsaid.
They could break your bones, or use their guns,
What they couldn't break is your will,
Or the millenia of life through you that runs.
You fought the fire, stood strong and still,
You promised yourself to rise,
Even with odds against you and paths uphill,
At seventy two you stand tall and wise.
A son looks up to you, oh nation of mine,
As you now soar above the skies.
Like a guiding light, like a star you shine,
Brighter than the fire you fought.
15th Aug 2019 : After 200 years of colonial rule and plundering, at the end, being left with nothing but communal tensions and the seeds of hate sown over the years, who would have given any chance at all to this country. And yet, somehow magically, supported by the thousands of years of history and a strong cultural fabric, India rose from the ashes to become a flourishing economy, the largest democracy and a power to contend with in the region. Check the number of countries that attained freedom during the same time or after, and the number of those which have not descended into chaos, and you'll be left with a handful, the biggest and most diverse among them being India. This is my humble tribute to the strength of India and to you, her sons and daughters. Happy Independence day.
ReplyDeleteThe structure of the poem follows the format where the first and last lines of each stanza rhyme, and the middle line rhymes with the first line of the next stanza.