The rebel walks alone
He has, from the days of Independence
His heart aflame by his own hand
The pain of compassion in his chest
He burns, he burns, how he burns
He burns down thrones of idols and devils
He burns down his old castles and bridges
On shivering hungry ground, he cannot be settled
For in the churning of the venomous waters
Who would not swallow its poison in blind hope
That the children may not in innocence drink it and die
In the inhuman eye behind a snipers scope?
Who would not rebel his life away in this world of wickedness
Whosoever possesses eyes and ears and mouth and soul
Who would not cry at the consummation of an expendable fate
Who would not be terrified of growing blind and deaf when old?
Where the child is only sheltered by his parent's flesh
Where the young envy the old and the old envy the dead
Who would not grieve the girl learning to be a bride
The rapist and the mullah whispering by his left side?
Who would not take Lenin's divining rod and wander in search
For the fires that will scorch the Heaven's and shake the Earth?
They ask me if I will find myself a home
I point them to the angels and the white bones
Above and below, in the filigree of Allah's design
On this planet, does any creation have a home?
Written with A. Jakhmola. In a world filled with unjust hierarchies, suffering, and indifference, being aware of pain and injustice is a fate I would not wish on my worst enemies. It renders one effectively rootless - how can you have a happy home on stolen land, how can you stand complacency to utter brutality in the name of a Loving God, how can you share land with vile oppression and not fight? Can you withstand misery and humiliating defeat in search of the rare victory, groping in the dark for a cathartic succour that may not even exist? Would you fight if you didn't have to? Would Lenin be Lenin if the tsar didn't hang his brother? How many heartbreaks will it take to finally win, or give up?
Written listening to "Sunset Di Tanah Anarki" by Superman Is Dead and inspired by the stories of Widji Thukul and Victor Jara, the current situation in Palestine, and Tagore's Ekla Cholo Re and Faiz's Hum Dekhenge. The latter being somehow controversial in both India and Pakistan.
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