The Lost Tradition
After August 15, 1947

Humanity slithers past
hungrily with fangs

dripping hemotoxin
of fanaticism in search of

its prey while democracy
on its last journey

to the burning ghat
drags its wounded feet on the hot

dunes of the deserted nation–
the communal knife lancing

open the pregnant wombs
of different faiths, and alien

children molested to death
in the streets of mother’s right hand

immersed in a pool of blood
as the red lotus rises in

the bliss of victory.
The live cremation

of the stainless missionary,
with his two children, stains

a great tradition today
and makes a great country

look small, crumbling
its stately honor to dust

on mother’s left hand.
No longer is the nation

a sacred unravished bride
but an absurd fanaticism,

seduced, pulling her hair
running mad into deserted streets.

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Editor’s Notes and Image Credit: Independence Day, in India, is a national holiday that is celebrated annually on August 15. Independence Day marks the end of British rule in 1947 and the establishment of a free and independent Indian nation. It also marks the anniversary of the partition of the subcontinent into two countries, India and Pakistan, which occurred at midnight on August 14–15, 1947. (In Pakistan, Independence Day is celebrated on August 14.) Also, the red lotus flower is the national flower of India and represents the purity of body, speech, and mind. The image is that of red lotus flowers at sunset [wallpaperkiss/photographer unknown].