Kashmir O' Kashmir Poem by Jananie Balaji

Frigid winds bluster, dauntless, and yet,
There seems bestrewn, a strange solace
The silence in the valley beckons day and night
Calling me to paradise, calling me to daze.

Wanton glacial waters, in callow cascades
And lochs of enchantment, nestled in ravines
Echoes of ecstasy seem to call me from massifs
To kiosk in the kloofs of those sieging scented pines

The Khambir with the piquant Lyodur Tschaman
And the tang of Noon chai, thirst-quenching. In the murks
Of punctual dawns and dusks, they seem to invite me
To visit those placid peaks and the cordial cirques

Photographs are feeble, words are etiolated
The scenic songs that enrapture, are a paltry downplay
Is it true, O' land of distinct tarns and tales
Are you really as enthralling and divine as they say?

Is the Dal so breathtaking, are the dulcets so soothing?
Are the threads of Pashmina really woven with dreams?
Are the people of Pahalgam indeed so fortunate
To wake up to the snow in the light of sunbeams?

If they are, when the songbirds sing and all your people smile
When the valleys are truly peaceful, with freedom and festoon,
From across our country, from near Cape Comorin
Kashmir, O' Kashmir, I shall come to see you soon!