SANKALPITA MULLICK, INDIA (Peace Poem)

Sankalpita Mullick

What is peace?

When one is young one cheapens peace, takes it for granted like it is always there. 

You don't know what peace is if unless something goes amiss. 

When one is older one sees peace in a new light. 

It is born of violence. ..it is not the default state; it often comes from a fight, 

Histories of bloodshed and violence and war and peace to show for. 

When one is old one understands peace is the cuckoo singing.

Peace is the rustling of the leaves as the sweet song vibrates through the tree.

But when one is old one sees the broken eggs of the crow that were pushed out of the nest to make way for the cuckoo to grow and sing. 

Peace is painful and violent and disturbing sometimes but peace is ultimately being free.

The birth of peace

There is a misconception, a really deep rooted lie

That peace is born of cowardice, of letting things go by and by.

But peace is not a warrior, who was shot behind his back,

Peace is not running or about yelling to attack. 

Peace is born of kindness, incubated in warmth.

Peace is not the aftermath of a long drawn out mess.

Peace is the state one reaches when the soul settles well,

When the outer disturbances quieten and the inner turmoil quell.

Peace cannot be the default after a great war.

Shouts that ring through the battlefield by a mother to find her son whose only remnant was clothes that tore.

Screams of homes being broken and people being thrown out.

Peace is not the advent of the external power struggles and the inevitable famine, and drought.

What we get wrong about peace is choosing heroes and villains, which is often for nought,

Because peace is not a battle that can be fought.

Peace is not about being the best, about who ultimately wins the challenge.

Peace is all about togetherness, about learning to do what is right without glorification, to find between strife and joy, an acceptable balance.

Profile:

Sankalpita Mullick is a freshly turned 22 old author and law student. She has won national debate championships and has been awarded scholarships for creative writing by Hindustan Times and LaughGuru. She has been a part of an editing team for a book about Supreme Court, High Court, and Trial Court petitions. Her first book “Metamorphosis-Legends Come to Life” was published when she was 14. She has an online writing forum called “Mind Melt Worldwide” with her friends from 10+ countries, whom she met during her time at a scholarship program at the University of Iowa, awarded to her by the United States State Department. She is passionate about social justice and the law. She partakes in fellowships and social justice initiatives to help make a difference within the community.

---

Setu, September 2023 :: Peace Poem