MUSINGS

ORDEAL ACROSS HIMALAYAS
 
As I bid farewell to my motherland
The tear-jerking departure echoes
With clouds over their brow and visions blurred
Shrouded in agony as speeches slurred.
 
No sooner did the journey hit the road
I was at the horizon of my dreadful episode.
Physical ordeal of unspeakable adversity
Added woe of emotional swansong.
 
Benighted steps in the Cimmerian darkness
Quivering body in the brisk climate of upland
Rasping storm that wall of my steps
Pattering of the heavy fall added the rough sledding.
 
Treading on the heels of a mute stranger
Had to abide the blows as my bounden duty
A betrayal brought us behind the rod bars
In lieu to light our lane to the end.

For heaven christened me “refugee”
It rallied round me to turn the corner
Kindling a never dying flame
All set to forgo life for the fight.
 
How cruel be the slaps of the snowstorm
How heartless be the attacks of chilly hailstones?
Yet my courage could fuel the fire
Blazing with flames of full faith.
 
They may chain our hands and shackle our feet
They even may lock up us for some years
To dig our speeches for an eternal lie
But they shall not enslave our spirits.

Palden
TCV Gopalpur