The Rising

The Rising

All the holy spirits watching over us

My forefathers of The Golden Age

Reminiscence of their innocent lives

Burned down to ashes by ruthless carnage

Their blessings flow down to strengthen my soul

As I take great pride in saluting my Emblem

My blood is pumped from the Heart of a Lion

Arousing my spirit to fight for our freedom

Violent tides rise high in turbulent times

Like a lone warrior I stand before them

Raising my mighty shield with my only hand

To defend my people and my land

Against the clutches of moral injustice

As a generous sacrifice, I offer my life,

Merely a small price I am willing to pay

Wholeheartedly to save my motherland

Our barns are torn down in retaliation

I yield and swallow every scathing blame

For it is I, who ignited those blazing flames

So it is I, who will breathe in that thick smoke

Suppressing my flooding tears behind my smile

Until my aching heart is heavily soaked

I am reminded of my painful and tainted past

To paralyze me, then to put an end to me

But there is nothing that can restrain me

All the distressing burden is put behind my back

I have been carrying it ever since I was born

It has only made me stronger; I have moved on

In pursuit of the sacred truth, I fall and get up again

I am the rising sun which will never set
Battling for the heavenly souls soaring in the skies

Thus, from the raging fire, 
Out of the darkest shadows, 
I Rise, I Rise!

The Rising – Spoken Word

Notes:
This poem is a tribute to Melissa Fry Beasley, a friend, poet and a brave activist from Oklahoma. This work is inspired by the events she went through recently. I was immensely moved by her courage in leading from the front and yet I could feel the sadness in her words of laughter. It was a tremendous challenge for me to put myself into her shoes and imagine the world she lives in and bring out the emotions connected to her. The initial struggle was, I wasn't able to start at all. Ever since I got back from my short trip, my mind was all over the place - unable to focus on thoughts correctly. Thanks to Joy, who helped me clear up my muddles when I discussed the idea of this work with her. It greatly helped my mind unravel the opening lines. Secondly, when the first draft of this piece was ready, I thought I will make the entire poem rhyme. But then, when I started to work on rhymes, it began to lose its power. So I decided to leave it as it is. Now about structuring the poem; originally it was a poem of five stanzas, four lines in each stanza, like most of my poems. It missed out few important lines I wanted to fit in. Then I also decided to take away the structuring to make it look first of its kind.

 July 2013