'Ode To The Soul Of India' By Ink Soul Poem by Ink Soul

Ode to the Soul of India by Ink Soul

O ancient Heart, whose breath the Ganges bore
Whose eyelids blinked when Time itself was born
Thou, clad in monsoon robes and Vedic lore
Hast smiled through empires risen and forlorn
Thy voice is not in words, but in the hush
Of banyan roots that kiss the temple stone
In sitar's sigh, and conch's evening call
In tiger's tread and shepherd's flute alone
O nation-bird, with golden wings outspread
Thy soul still sings where conquerors have fled

I saw thee once in farmers bowed with grace
Beneath the sun's unblinking tyranny
And once again in widows' veilèd face
Who lit the lamps of lost divinity
Thou weepest not, yet tears in silence fall
From Himalayan brows to coastal veins
For in thy wounds the lotus blooms again
And in thy dust abide the oldest strains
O India, born of prayer and sacrifice
Thou art the Earth's unbroken paradise

Where Kashmir bleeds, and Delhi chokes with smoke
Still doth thy jasmine pierce the poisoned air
Where slums are grown, and hope is but a joke
Thy children yet with dreams their hearts repair
A yogi sits beneath the neem in thought
And lifts the world with just a whispered Om
A child with chalk rewrites the shattered fate
And turns her hut into a future home
O land of pain, and yet the land of light
Thy silence burns more fiercely than the fight

O voice of saints—O Mira's endless song
O Kabir's fire in every weaver's thread
O tongue of love that makes the cruel strong
Fall weeping at the feet of those they bled
No tyrant ever silenced thy true word
For even mute, thy dust has tongues of flame
Thy rivers chant the hymns no sword could hush
Thy forests bear the Rishis' burning name
And though thy body's chained, thy soul is free
The stars themselves bow down and learn from thee

But now, O Mother, rise in thundered truth
Cast off the lies thy children wear like gold
The age demands the fire of ancient youth
Not plastic dreams, nor hearts grown stiff and cold
Rise, as the eagle rises to the sun
Let knowledge be thy weapon, truth thy might
Let no caste bind, let no god divide
Thy children born of shared and sacred right
Be once again the world's eternal guide
Awake, arise, O India—our pride.