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How long will you writhe under fear
and hate?
How long will you threaten of fire and sword?
How long will clouds of war hang on our fate?
How long will arms consume our toil and gold?
Oh! pause and ponder, our own flesh and blood.
The same high and majestic range of
hills
Protects our north from winds, fierce and cold.
The banks of the same winding rivers and rills
Cradled our culture, still inspiring through old.
Oh! pause and ponder, our own flesh and blood.
The warm tides of the same Arabian Sea
Roll along our coast from south to west
Thus nature has linked us wherever we see
Then why let ill will harm us like a pest?
Oh! pause and ponder, our own flesh and blood.
The hymns, we chant, are by same
saints
The songs, we relish, are from the same lore.
Why not forgive and forget all baseless taints
Promise to live in peace and quarrel no more.
Oh! pause and ponder, our own flesh and blood.
Poverty is the worst enemy of our
lands
Wars, hot and cold, make us further poor.
To help each other let us join our hands
No other counsel than this shall be truer.
Oh! pause and ponder, our own flesh and blood.
Note: The poem was written on the eve of Simla
Summit between the Prime Minister of India and the President of Pakistan
held in the last week of May 1972.
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(2005)
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