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.