Oh, My country!

When did the dream fail?

When did we stop to care?

How did we let the suppressor wear,

the diadem of friendship?

And the brethren

the thorns of injustice?

When did, the foe become the friend

And the brethren the foe?

 

The multitude that with confidence strode

Glorious heritage upon their brow

Smiling faces did bayonets embrace

With mirth their dying breath.

Oh, Motherland supreme each did proclaim.

To the very end, Hind on their tongue.

What would be their Anguish?

When we made,

the foe the friend,

And the brethren the foe.

 

The oppressors were few

yet they did subdue, masses large.

A country enslaved, that passive stayed

Till our heroes stood

Hand in hand

Shoulder to shoulder

Caste forgotten, creed forsaken

Religion that ceased in matter

Blood that throbbed, that bled, that fell

was ever only Indian.

When did we then,

make the foe the friend,

And the brethren the foe?

 

Our heroes prevailed, on an enemy racist

The foreign monarch routed,

helplessly departed.

We were FREE

Time stood up and Applauded.

A people found their wings

to fly they should

the world theirs

more glory to be shared.

But with midnight’s peal,

a blight persisted.

For we had made,

the foe the friend,

And the brethren the foe.

 

Dover Beach we would aspire

the shingles to kiss.

But the brethren we suspect

We shun

We disrespect

The lines we, allowed to be

Created

With each stroke the

pencil drove

The foe the friend

And the brethren the foe.