Self Respect Poem by Praveen Kumar In Shobha Priya

I sought her all my life,
Crossed hills, jumped gulfs,
Walked through burning flames
To have her on right side.

She comes and goes on random pleasure
Like clouds in a rainy sky;
She dims and lights my uncertain heart
Like the sun in hide and seek.

I revolve around her, like a satellite
To grasp her warm lights;
I dissolve in her fierce charms
To remould in hard hot steel.

She lives in the shell of prejudices
Where soft heart cannot reach;
A lion's fierce heart, she adores,
That sinks to thorns, sheds blood for self.

She is hot fluid like a volcanic fire
That throws fierce flames once in a while;
The white-hot glow of the zeal in soul
Cools like clouds in face of trial.

No blows crack, no heatings mellow,
No heat treatment softens resolves;
I must reach her all days and nights,
For, only her flames light my soul.

A soul that grasps all weak settings,
A heart like steel-spikes to guard the self,
A trust in self in all painful odds-
I need to gain and sustain her.

Her fierce charm lights sullen moods,
Her fierce touch melts frozen ice
To raise a fluid warm world,
Where no fears ride, no responses shirk.

No pride shrinks in her cheerful trough,
No corrosions of basic rights;
Like a gale of sudden uprooting wind,
She carries all, on her wings.

Be with her, whatever you be,
Then you are a king on the throne;
Without her, good old gods too
Line on streets with begging bowls.

Like holy fire, she burns
To consume all shams in flames;
Honest big deeds survive the flare
By hearty response to her.

The road is wild, but a pleasant pursuit
To walk, head held high, in proud respect,
Though hungry beasts with bloody teeth
Wait to pounce and tear her Self.