If We Must Live Poem by Mohammad Younus

If we must live, let it be not like poor Dalits,
Treated in an ignominious and wretched way,
Marginalised as untouchables and oppressed,
By the colonisers and occupiers of their land,
They submitted to the horrendous monster of...
...Aryan power,
That is their original sin,
If we must live, let it be like a resilient nation,
Who resist and fight back, when pressed to the wall,
Resistance is the best form of troubleshooting,
Even the blood hounds that spill our blood,
Might surrender to our valiance and withdraw...
...to their pens,
To gnaw their conscience for the wrongs...
...they have done,
If we must live, let it be not like dumb driven oxen,
Yoked to plough the rocky mountain with whips...
...on the back,
While round us the pack of treacherous sadists,
Laugh and giggle to mock our accursed lot
If we must live, let us live with our heads held high
There is no agony greater than bearing tyranny...
...and servitude
Do not trumble at enemy's bomb explosions
Do not shiver at enemy's rain of bellets...
...and pellets
If you want not to be hunted and penned...
...like hogs
If you want not to be cut into slices like...
...carrots and turnips
If you want not to be trodden like mustard seeds...
...under armoured boots

Mykoul