BIJAYANANDA MISHRA

 

SHRINE

 

Indians roam merrily, visit all shrine,

Monumental creations to pray divine,

Length and breadth, submerged in time,

Mountain top, at height flutter flag fine,

Saints, peers, fakirs, freedom fighters,

Eminent, writer, poet, visionary, thinker,

Social reformer, national leader no more,

Read most of the shrines on mortal remains,

Immortal works for the nation, impact immense,

Century’s people from slumber got awake,

Sheer presence, doctrine, messages break,

Ignorance, blind custom, social vice, faith,

Millennium darkness, lighten poverty shake,

Hunger, illness, social practice demonic,

Beacon of light on truth cleansed, magnetic,

Yesteryear’s human in cloth, barefoot, hut,

Bullock cart was travel, palm leaf taught,

Oil lamp in the night to the lantern, bare feet,

Defecation open, disease erases neat,

School kids few, study on the moral lesion,

Vedantic, mythology, language awesome,

Current human incomparable, assets,

Gadgets like magic, futuristic aspects,

Gratitude is missing for citizen, respect,

Taj marvels, the shrine of a queen final rest,

Foreign rulers graves, palaces in splendor,

Shrines in crowd sing nation’s surrender,

 

Greats changed the face of the nation most modern,

Their abode of final rest as shrines reborn,

Call for national honor to amazing shrines,

Tribute to the statue of unity, the memorial shines,

The gratitude of the nation, shrines of spirits past,

Not for rulers, conquerors, invaders last,

Netaji’s shrine of the birthplace, many more,

Citizen of the future, today’s child learn, favor,

Sacred bank of river Sabarmati, the abode,

Greatest shrine of the nation, ashrama record,

Shrine in honor of the father of the nation, relics,

Bhajans, messages of Bapu, symbol pricks,

Millions throng to shrines of divine abode,

Pray in trust, practice faith, local n abroad,

Sabarmati waits for a great crowd, learn to practice,

Peace, love, serving humanity, erase injustice,

Non-violence, fasting for rightful freedom,

Freedom from overseas products awesome,

Sabarmati ashram, the shrine of Charkha,

A million women use solar power Charkha,

A message of Bapu on self-dependence,

Khadi is messages of time, prime credence,

Thousands of temples, a national architecture,

Shrines only sing golden past, never recover,

Shrine at the bank of Sabarmati inspire,

Do or die for nation’s cloth, salt require.