Saturday, 1 November 2025

Poetry 2025 Longlist, Shivani Dua

 The Living Gods


They died so that we could live

They received gun shots, were drenched in blood

Still no complaints, no regrets

Yes, they have families too

But if they cared for their families alone as we do

Did we expect to have a peaceful wink of sleep?

When their bodies are brought home

The plight of their loved ones is so heart rending to behold

A loving father’s heart is split into two

Where one side clamours to hug ‘his son’ while the other is ready to

salute the ’motherland’s brave son’

Whether to grieve for the loss or feel proud

The heart of the father of brave heart- 

    demanding answer in a tone so loud

The mothers, wives, children 

(of the brave hearts) all undergo the same

pain and turmoil

To weep or salute the great son of the soil

Yes, we are saved from the jaws of death

Yes, we are alive , we are free

But how easily we forget the price paid for this freedom

The price which our brave soldiers paid- staking their lives to save ours

No expectation, no greed, how selfless is the ‘brave heart’ creed

Love for motherland runs through their veins


Bravely they stand to shield us from pains

With a heart filled with love and face suffused with joy

For them bullets and shelling are but a toy

What they did, we can never repay

What their families lost, we can never replace

Heavenly God we haven’t seen

But aren’t they the’ Living Gods’ on earth?

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