By Jasbir Singh Sarna | Poem |
In Tehran at gentle break of day,
Where schoolgirls traced their dreams in play,
One hundred sixty five hearts in light
Awoke to books and mornings bright.
Their satchels held both prose and rhyme,
Soft histories of hope and time;
No shadow crossed their tender art,
No war had schooled the childlike heart.
But sudden split the startled sky,
With iron wings that screamed on high;
Missiles, fierce in fatal flight,
Turned noon itself to ashen night.
The blackboard wept in fractured seam,
Dust veiled each half-completed dream;
Chalk and laughter, intertwined,
Lay scattered by an unkind hand.
O daughters of the dawn’s first gleam,
You were the nation’s living dream;
Your voices rose in measured grace,
Now silence keeps your vacant place.
What throne is built on children’s cries?
What creed beneath such ruin lies?
No victor’s wreath, no martial claim
Can sanctify such a vast flame.
One hundred sixty five stars untimed
Were written out before they rhymed;
Yet in the ledger none can hide
Your names in conscience are amplified.
For though the walls in embers fall,
Memory outlives the burning wall;
And from that shattered schoolyard ground
Your witness speaks without a sound.
Sleep, daughters, where the just abide,
Beyond the reach of hate and pride;
History shall guard your flame—
And humankind recall your name.
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Dr Jasbir Singh Sarna, a native Kashmiri, is a retired Indian agriculture officer. He has authored more than four dozen books, including Sikhs in Kashmir and The Sikh Shrines in Jammu and Kashmir. He can contacted at Jbsingh.801@gmail.com
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