My Country

My country is a child of brave soil.

A country of tolerance,

A country of rebirth,

A country of victory,

A country of hope,

A country of pride.

My country is a born fighter.

There is a ground zero amid nature

somewhere near seven sisters.

Where soldiers are fighting for our country. 

Bleeding, dying, winning, and losing.

Son of their mother; and martyred for the motherland.

But my country is divided into a crowded intersection.

Living our lives

Raising our children

Helping our neighbors

Giving to others. Also,

Polluting minds

Corrupting conscience

Stretching the line between poor & rich.

Smashing Democracy

Taking the shelter away from homeless

Making promises and lying later like a cheater.

Lift and dump us to wash white sins

that are not ours to wipe. Oh! I’m confused.

Nevertheless, my country is diversified too.

United by National Anthem,

Flag, currency. Currency?

Unique by cultures,

Languages, food, music, love.

Sometimes catastrophes too,

Recently to a pandemic. 

Such a bittersweet country I have.

Gives me so much to write about,

More than I can journal. 

Most I love, few I hate,

Many I ignore. 

What do our men and women love?

Those hills we got, 

Beaches, mountains, rivers, oceans.

Festivals, peacocks, wildlife sanctuaries.

Maggi and tea on the hilltop, jamming session.

Storytelling, Farming, and everything else to live for.

Oh! I have my list of gratitude…. but

I pay them from my window. Don’t know 

Which sacred place to go? There are ample!

And I love them all…have my faith intact.

In God and my country. 

So hard to breathe at times.

It is a tough land I was born on,

Called a stolen land back in history; seventy-three years ago.

Colonized; bled a million tears till two hundred years.

No more. No more!

My country is a child of brave soil.

Let’s sow the seed of love that we own,

Because we owe that to our motherland. 

My country, India!