The Eternal Glow Poem by Ajit Das

We may not have fear from friends and foes,
nor be afraid of the past, the present and the future,
nor harbour fear during the day and the night.
So says the wise man in the pages of the scriptures.
And I endeavour to cultivate a mind without fear.

But when I ponder over the sagacious advice,
I find two worlds: one idealised, perceived in belief
and another real, lived in day-to-day existence.
They run parallel to each other on the boulevard,
the reality of life ever seeking the far-off confluence.

Fear stalks in every avenue of the real world,
be in the neighbourhood or in the society at large;
kids are burnt alive, minors raped, voices stifled,
justice elusive, the mighty strutting unabashed.
The life's raft is tossed by mute helplessness.

But deep in the heart the primordial instinct
for survival underpins the bedrock of courage,
rearing its head to take on the predacious terror,
dismantling its dreaded masks with fearless stare.
The road ahead is illumined with eternal glow.