Where The. What The. How The. Why The.

With due apologies where apologies are due.

Where the mind loses mindfulness
And the nose is held high
Where nothing is free
Where the family has been broken into fragments by narrow access restrictions
Where gifts come from the treasure chest instead of the heart
Where tired souls fade in the pursuit of glittering facades
Where the big screen knows your name but those who've grown up calling it cannot be heard
Where keeping up with unknown Jones means leaving known values behind
Where the behind is led by money into the ever widening abyss of inaction
in that cavernous fiefdom, my Father
Let my country not slumber.

This poem is my humble attempt at modernising Tagore's masterpiece. Read Rabindranath Tagore's poem below. ▶︎

“Where the mind is without fear
and the head is held high,
where knowledge is free.
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls.
Where words come out from the depth of truth,
where tireless striving stretches its arms toward perfection.
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
into the dreary desert sand of dead habit.
Where the mind is led forward by thee
into ever widening thought and action.
In to that heaven of freedom, my father,
LET MY COUNTRY AWAKE!”
― Nobel Prize Winner Rabindranath Tagore, Gitanjali