For the land of my birth India... by Nandini Sen Mehra

For the land of my birth India...

“And night has come upon my land,
the carrion birds encircling
and prayers ascend on pyres lit,
the shadows fast descending

And leaders know not how to lead,
they gape, they watch in silence
while each new day brings grief afresh,
no help, no rest, no guidance

And those who come with sturdier boats,
will row perhaps to safety,
but most, will flay, in desperate need,
expendable humanity

What will remain, when the storm has passed,
when many so loved are lost,
what will be changed, within our hearts
what will this time exhaust

May then we not allow ourselves
to be led by those inept,
for want of air while many died,
unmoved, while many wept

May we never again be fooled,
by words, by power, by greed,
put not our faith in men of stone
who use us for their need

And know that when the night was dark,
who came to hold our hand,
it was the stranger, the ones unknown,
who share this wounded land

It was the one you did not trust,
the ones who were the other,
and when the leaders all had fled,
in him you found a brother

So let no powers again succeed,
to divide us at their will,
let love remain in our battered hearts,
the hope they could not kill.

- Nandini Sen Mehra poet and author