🌊 'ane Siang Will Not Be Silenced' 🌊 Poem by Kalen Paron

(A poem of protest and protection)

They call her water —
We call her Mother.
She is not just a river,
But the very soul of our people.

Ane Siang flows from the ancient hills,
Where spirits speak and the forest breathes.
She nourishes our fields, our forests, our flesh,
And carries the songs of our ancestors in every ripple.

But now —
Machines roar where birds once sang,
Maps are drawn by those
Who have never set foot on her banks.

They talk of power.
We speak of life.
They see profit.
We feel pain.

They sign MoUs in secret halls,
But never ask the children of the river.
They try to dam her heart,
As if rivers were meant to be ruled.

But Ane Siang is not just water to bottle.
She is memory.
She is heritage.
She is bloodline.

We, the warriors of the Siang Basin,
Will not kneel.
We will stand like the old mithuns in the forest —
Proud, calm, unmoved by force.

We will sing her song louder.
We will beat our drums harder.
We will write poems on every stone
That says: 'Let the river live free.'

You may build your dam —
But beware:
You cannot dam our spirit.
You cannot silence Ane Siang.

Because as long as she flows,
We will rise.
~~~Kalen Paron Alias Zohin Hinlen