Youm Azadi Mubarak
The Lament
By Dr Nazir Khaja 
Los Angeles, CA

My Beloved land my home that is lost,
For which we struggled at such great cost.
 

For the barren lives of its children all,
No hopes remain that spring will ever call,

The dead weight of loneness on us both,
A helplessness, which we both have come to loathe.

The freedom that we thought we had achieved
We know now, that this we falsely believed

Comes to mind the time that you were born,
After a glorious struggle that our freedom's face adorns

This was a time when within us the torrent of hope,
Like your mighty rivers, was hard to cope.

On the peaks of your mountains our ambition stood,
And in your valleys so lush we formed a brotherhood

In the dazzle of the new dawn our eyes glowed,
The desires in our bosoms freely flowed.

  No more under tyranny and not in the shade of a foreign sky
  We marched in locked steps, unafraid to die

We labored long, our young and our old
So at last in our hands we could, our destiny hold.

You were then there with the whole of our nation,
A people undivided possessed of your affection.

Alas how quickly on us did darkness descend
When due to contriving by few our dawn would end.

Like all of your children you gave them birth,
  And they grew-up here amidst laughter and mirth.

Their love and affection alas was not for you,
And only to themselves they thought these were due.

Loyalty to you was not a lesson they had learned
Equality of all under law, they proudly spurned

Their own self-interest was all that they thought.
Acquisition of wealth and power was all that they sought.

Their ancestors themselves were no less in fraud.
  Rewarded for their loyalty by rulers from abroad.

In the Freedom struggle they had betrayed their own kin.

And got gifts of land and titles, for committing this sin.

Thus empowered, they in their hands our destiny hold
And for their own benefit they repeatedly sold.

Land for all the people and all people for the land
Was not an idea that they would ever understand.

The Rights of the people, they easily set aside
In poverty and ignorance the masses came to reside.

Such seeds of dissension and discord did they sow,
That brother turned against brother and friend became foe.

Their unyielding ambition resulted in a tragic war
That in our memory will linger as an ugly scar.

The lifeblood from your body continued to drain,
The radiance of your continence you could hardly maintain,

None of this mattered for them who cared less
Even your division and separation they came to bless.

You still survived with your body dismembered,
A tragic tale that will always be remembered.

Came then the army to rescue us from their hold
An action we thought was necessary and bold

Alas though, when the army steps in to take power,
It is certain that democracy has no chance to flower.

They came in with a promise to stay only a short time
To restore power to the people and put a stop to high crime

Promises were made and the people believed
They waited long, and again they were deceived.

The Generals, in the name of country's survival, ruled
Not just once, but also more than once had us all fooled.

The wheel of our misfortune again has turned,
Those who the generals had removed, to power have returned.

This time in the name of Democracy we are again to be ruled
By the same people who have repeatedly had us all fooled

With pomp and ceremony we welcome them again,
Those who have caused us so much grief and pain

Darkness has made permanent an abode in our hearts,
Between foe and friend we no longer can tell apart.

Arise from slumber  O Children of the land
Take your destiny into your own hands.