Mother India...What Pain Befall... Poem by sujata kumar

Mother makes a plaintive call...
Mother India...What pain befall...

We soar at night,
We paradrop;
A surgical strike! !
Down goes one.. down goes two..down goes three..
The bunkers in shambles.
Victory is ours,
The battle we've won!
The operation, a success.
Hailed, applauded in abundance.

You pelt stones!
Soldiers, we are!
We march, we fight,
We save every might.
A flood in Assam,
Terrorists in Pathankot,
Infiltration in Kashmir
A kid in a borewell,
An earthquake in Gujarat,
A tsunami in the South.
We attend all thy call,
We fight for one, we fight for all.

Away from home, Away from home
We can hear the whistle blow away from home...
Father's on bed
Gazing, intent at the door and mourn...
My son...my son...
Where art thou?
Oh bring back my bonny, mother cries aloud.

No accolade, no acclaim
No mercy do we claim.
No flower strewn.
Only a plea, a holo, a humble supplication
Throw no stone,
If not flowers,
Is all I hone.