Today, the tricolor
flag
freed from the British shackles
flutters in the glory of victory!
The three equal-sized horizontal stripes
With a central wheel lifts the gloom and
brings the nation to its knees….
The saffron stands for courage, sacrifice;
The white, for purity and truth;
and the green for
faith and fertility-
And in a mellifluous union-
the colours instil new strength in me to walk
on the ground, keeping the head held high.
The flag is ours. The force within it screams,
It dissolves the metal of my soul
and makes my heart beat with pride.
How beautiful is this wondrous cloth,
That swishes, sways and swings imitating the kites
Every Indian must worship it, and be wonderstruck,,,
Ah, at last, I can
live more than just Live…
Written for Susan's http://poetryblogroll.blogspot.com/2018/08/poets-united-midweek-motif-national.html
Written for Susan's http://poetryblogroll.blogspot.com/2018/08/poets-united-midweek-motif-national.html
It must be a wonderful feeling, a country being out from under the domination of another, able to live its own truth. How wonderful this is, Panchali. It always amazes me when one country decides it will take over another.
ReplyDelete"And in a mellifluous union-
ReplyDeletethe colours instill new strength in me to walk
on the ground, keeping the head held high."
If only we all felt this positive and claimed our flags instead of leaving them to the politicians and factions! You take it back and make it more meaningful than ever. Lovely.
It's wonderful to find the force a flag has. The poem reminds me of the eighteen year old Hima Das looking for the Indian Flag after winning the gold. So beautifully put, Panchali di.
ReplyDeleteIt is a great thing to have a flag born of freedom compared with one demonstrating power or of oppression. I do remember back in 1947 when inde[pendence occurred on the sub-continent the mass migration of Hindu, Sikh and Muslim to reach a safe place over many many months.
ReplyDeleteI love the lines:
ReplyDelete' The saffron stands for courage, sacrifice;
The white, for purity and truth;
and the green for faith and fertility-
And in a mellifluous union'
and
'The flag is ours. The force within it screams,
It dissolves the metal of my soul
and makes my heart beat with pride'.
A flag is very symbolic – and what it symbolises, I think, also depends on how the people of a country sees it (individually and collectively). I'm glad that for you this still signifies joy and freedom. May they pertain!
ReplyDeleteAh, I like this positive thought. This flag belongs to the people and marks the history of struggle for freedom — it is a part of the collective conscious and it remains so, despite being used to create rifts and divisions today. We don't have colonial masters anymore, but we still have political and industrialist oppressors.
ReplyDeleteI really like how your merge symbols in your imagery, and that last line is a gem.
-HA
Positive words indeed Panchali - freedom from the shackles of British 'Rule' and the rebirth of your nation and the birth of you flag.
ReplyDeleteThe last line is a pure gem, wonderful, beautiful.
Anna:o]