The Dawn Of Resistance Poem by Nida Nawaz

(Remembering Kashmir Martyrs of 1931)

They neither fell nor did they die
They descended into the heartbeat of the Vitasta
With their blood, the Chinar, for the very first time,
inscribed the crimson testament of resistance
History bears witness

Voices that rise
In the cause of democracy
cannot be silenced for long

Upon the walls of that prison
It is not the rust of shackles
That still remains
But the fragrance of their breathing

They were not merely twenty-two
They were the awakened eyes
Of an entire valley

The sandy walls of tyranny
Can never stand for long
Before the surging waves of resistance

Even today, when the Chinar Valley
Gently touches its wounds
Their martyrdom burns
Not as a solitary lamp
But as the first dawn
Of countless suns
Rising against injustice.