It
Matters
By Rajeev Mishra [25.04.02]
They
stood, once, on those distant shores
They fought, they endured and they died
Many did not escape, those destructive jaws
And for them, many a rock, they did inscribe
And
what, for the unknown soldier, is left?
A solitary flame, that burns for ever
Their very essence, the core, has been theft
By war, but we shan’t forget, we must endeavour
To
remain true to their efforts, their purpose
To remember that they once stood there
These things, should be lifted, up to the surface
So that with the next, we can share
Cynical
beasts, raise their heads, choose to oppose
“Political motives”, “their problem”, dispute
But who really cares, for the questions they pose
The stories to be told, they cannot refute
At
times, we lie with the snakes, but for most,
We see soldiers’ tears, and we try to understand
But we cannot know what happened on that coast
For we weren’t there, stories buried under sand
And
so we listen and learn, and watch the men
Soldiers carried into the sky on eagles’ wings
Will it rain as it did? Will we ever know when?
Look to the horizon, to the sun, the swan sings
And
we think, we always do, of those deeds
That were done, but never forgotten, never
The trees that stand tall, now sew their seeds
For the next, so that they will know
That
what they did, truly did matter.
