Poetry
I Bear Witness ...
SARBPREET SINGH
This poem is the fourth of a new series of works on sikhchic.com by the author to mark the 30th anniversary of the Indian Army’s desecration of the Golden Temple in Amritsar.
Weep not my son these cuts will heal
You beat your breast you rent your hair
Your eyes are pools of dark despair
As at my open wounds you stare
Bestill yourself my restless child
Behold my timeless tranquil face
The years of restless bloody strife
To some bring tears to others grace
From verdant halcyon days of past
Now shrouded in the mists of time
My body clad in silk and gold
Bestirred the lust of hungry eyes
They came in droves the panting beasts
Fueled by their dreams of Roman feasts
They fed with haste and drank their fill
My body red my silks in shreds
First came a hero bold and young
At head of lusty conquering horde
He brought his lance his shield and sword
But not the grace of Aflatoon
Then came the sons of Khorasan
Their eyes ablaze with Allah’s light
But alas they too were here to rape
Believers too did their daggers smite
Thundered the spawn of Tamerlane
As thousands did he put to sword
Until the sting of an Old Man’s words
Did shame his soul and stay his hand
And then it dawned, the golden day
Of pallid gods with flaxen hair
Who spoke of Truth with gentle tongue
As deeper still their daggers dug
And yet my son each time I rose
Pulling to me my blood soaked rags
I bled then too, as I bleed now
But a wondrous tale I have to tell
For all these tyrants came and went
They tore my flesh spit out my blood
And yet each time from the dust I rose
My wounds were gone my body whole
And that is why my gentle son
There is no need for you to weep
The molten lead of Hindustan
It pierced my skin and struck my womb
But like it did in the days long gone
My abyss spawned a million sons
Your mournful dirge vermillion song
A ballad bold for the fallen ones
https://twitter.com/sarbpreetsingh
May 18, 2014
Conversation about this article
1: Sangat Singh (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia), May 18, 2014, 6:01 PM.
Sikhchic.com is forever touching new heights. Reminds me of the erstwhile Readers' Digest and not the present one that has degenerated to singing paeans of toothpastes. Sher ji, it is under your stewardship that it is planting flags, each higher than the other. We will soon run out of space. Thank you, Sarbpreet ji, for your nuggets.
2: Vijay Singh Bajwa (Marlboro, New Jersey, USA), May 25, 2014, 2:38 AM.
In a word, powerful - capturing history's sweep in a very evocative way. Kudos!