India – Ancient and Ever Afresh !

My country is safe,
As long as,
A young athlete has tears flowing unbidden
As the national anthem plays..
My country is safe,
As long as,
A young martyr’s father laments,
That he has no more sons to defend the Motherland,
My country is safe,
As long as,
Another country gets no refugees,
Fleeing from my land
My country is safe,
As long as,
A father picks an abandoned girl
And brings her up as his own,
My country is safe,
As long as,
A lone crusader is not silenced,
And a mob comes out for justice…
My country is safe
As long as,
I am educated
And history is an accurate account of what happened
My country is safe
As long as,
I can breathe fresh air
Through the smog of politics,

My country is safe,
As long as,
I love it and cherish it,
And treat it like my mother.
My country is safe
As long as,
I can call any public figure names
And continue doing it,
My country is safe,
As long as,
I honor the laws and,
Do not rob the taxpayer, blind
My country is safe,
As long as,
I try not to be more equal,
And take responsibility for social ills,
My country is safe,
As long as,
Religion remains locked within
My heart and my hearth,
My country is safe,
As long as,
A Christian mother does not baptize
An orphaned child,
My country is safe,
As long as
A “believer” brother lets my sister
Remain a “non-believer” even as he marries her
My country is safe,
As long as,
I fight the just war
And not ignore the unpardonable,

Is my country safe today?
Yes, yes and yes again
There are unsafe moments,
And unsafe roads and unsafe cities
But as long as
The anthem brings tears unbidden
To a young girl’s eyes
My county is safe
For that young girl
Will ensure its safety.

My country is old,
My country is young,
My country has ancient knowledge,
My country has new discoveries,
My country is resilient,
My country is ever changing,
And so it will remain forever….
Safe and ever changing,
Still and ever new,
Soft and ever steely
India – Ancient and ever afresh !

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~~~ A privilege to be called an Indian

~~~ Inspired by Hima Das’s gold medal.