Let My Country Awake

Let My Country Awake

Carol D’Souza

I

On the streets,

Of the blood-spilled valley,

The young,

They rise like a tide;

Freedom, their moon.

II

Carcasses of the baggage,

Handed down to them,

In legacy;

They have left on the streets,

For the world to see.

III

Hunger was her weapon,

Now forsaken.

She says she is hungry,

For a fight,

With the might,

Of this country.

IV

He was found hanging,

In a borrowed room.

Even death could not afford him,

A place of his own.

But in history he will find a place,

The letters he left behind,

Will trace,

His struggle, his stand

A life cut short,

By oppressing hands.

V

Who are these people, you ask.

They are the underbelly.

Fair valley dwellers,

Women of mettle and bravery,

Seekers of knowledge

And somebodys that nobody sees.

They have woken up.

They are standing.

How will the nation sleep?