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| Ramesh Chandra Tiwari |
The Himalayas stood in silent homage, the wind dropped,
The grief-stricken sea lay still, rivers wept, the sky cried,
The stars and the moon struggled their tears to hide,
To see Mother India holding her son in the tricolour wrapped.
O the divine statesman, the leader of leaders,
The angel of good governance, the man of letters,
The author of ideal politics friendly even to the opponents!
We are alone again in the dense, dark, dreadful, night.
Who will lull us, lure us with lore blessed and bright?
Who will stand Atal on national security like a symbol potent?
Who will bridge the gap created by the old policy of divide?
Who will teach us to integrate, to love friend and foe alike?
Sessions never descended into farce when you led the debates.
Deafened by infernal noise, Parliament now calls you out;
Dredging up memories of your era, Redfort casts about;
They still believe you have gone somewhere for your holidays.
It is rare to find a democrat who wins so huge critical acclaim;
It is rare to find a man so calm so decorous and self-restraint;
It is rare to find a parliamentarian so honest, so moral and law abiding;
It is rare to find a prominent politician with no political enemy;
It is rare to find a wit besides which every other seems a pygmy;
It is rare to find a raconteur, a poet whose words are always spellbinding;
With so many virtues the world had never created a man before.
O the rare man, our father, we will mourn your passing evermore!
O the real Hindu - independent of dogma or caste - Hindustan misses you!
O Bihari, the paradigm of a Bhartiya, for you Ma Bharati waits:
Your bed every evening and breakfast every morning she makes,
Though as she croons one of your poems, she soon laments your death anew.
