As baby chicks, slowly we grew feathers—
Amidst rains & droughts, suns & winds—
The feathers metamorphosed to metallic wings
Painted with colours of joy and peace.
We then flew far above the peaceful sky—
The gorgeous azure sky.

Our wings reflected the colours of hopes and desired dreams—
Of green, of white, of another green—
Of too much greens and much more whites,
Those which carry our collective name very far
And make it count among the full-feathered birds.

As thunderstorm that coughs in the tail of lightning,
We all died, leaving behind a single bird—
The immortal bird;
It knows no rest—it falls and flies, then falls,
Self-dragging its white shrouded body.
Still, it flies again, fluttering its fully green wings.
The wings of the immortal bird have rendered a mere flag
By the hungry hunters that counter-shoot its wings;
Then, finally, sadly, it loses its wings
And becomes food for horrors dressed in hunters’ dresses.

Its once potent wings have shrunk—and still, a mere flag.
Our dear fatherland has changed—
Entirely changed from its old priceless portrait
Kept by our selfless great grandparents.

The once firm standing fleshy flying flag
That stroked the toes and heels of the sky has fallen—
Has fallen and shrunk—stain’d & stench’d with blood.
The water and leaves, the white and greens:
The whole bullet-holed body—from North to South,
Down to East and West—is drenched,
Drenched and has absorbed the colour of blood.
The doves—white doves—have flown
To the neighboring nests.

Yet, death has become a competitive miracle,
Everyone’s dying—
Steerings, on breached and wounded roads,
Sickbeds, with malaria and typhoid and more,
Khakies, for their do-what-you-like country,
Masses, in hunger and sorrows,
Victims, in [il] legal detentions;
Everyone’s dying
& death has become a competitive miracle.

The sons of this orphaned mother
Optimistically sing a song—in unison—
A song of once more fly and revamp—

The faded falling flag that fondled
The flat feet of the frowned sky
Shall once more fly, again and again;
The once full-bloomed tallest tree
That mistakenly leaves its leaves
Shall bloom & rebloom, again and again.
And after all, WE shall rise again.