Three Colours, One Heart

A Tribute to India’s 79th Independence Day

Way back in 1947,
what had existed only in our imagination
finally stepped into the real world.

The hardships we endured,
the years lost,
they didn't shatter us.
They made us.

When that initial dawn of freedom broke,
it seemed as if the air itself was different,
lighter, warmer,
full of things we didn't even know
we were permitted to dream about.

We began spinning new dreams,
not for ourselves alone,
but for the children
and their children after them.

We weren't free from something,
we were free for something,
to build,
to create,
to imagine a future
that belonged to us alone.

And each year,
when the tricolour goes up again,
it seems like that first morning,
the sky open wide,
and all of India
breathing as one.

Happy Independence Day

Author's Note

Seventy-eight years ago, dawned freedom's first light over our nation.
Today, as the tricolour goes up again,
we recall the bravery that brought us here,
and hope that drives us on.
Here's to our past that inspires us,
our present that unites,
and our future that glows with promise.
Jai Hind. 🇮🇳

Reviews

[thelunaprojects]

I love this poem it resonates with me about love and life and what you will do for your family. Beautful!

[Neha agrawal]

Thank you so much. I am glad you like it.

[Chris Shaw]

Happy Independence Day Neha. Freedom and opportunity. A wonderful tribute to the past, present and the future. All best wishes.

Chris

[Neha agrawal]

Thank you so much Chris😊.

[h d e rushin]

My daughter had a Bengali friend when she was in Middle School whom I would invite to her yearly birthday parties, but she never would eat a piece of cake. That is as close to India as I've ever been. But poetry makes distance only relevant to expression, and time embarrassingly wild and capacious. So I reread this poem in its inverse order, with the final stanza being the first, and that's when the poem became poetic. You rhapsodized with your own poetic lyricism and showed the importance of honoring various poetry genealogies/. That's how poetry works when at its most collective: each voice, style, and mode amplifies the excellence in another's tongue. Beautifully written. dana

[Neha agrawal]

Thank you dana! For stopping by and review my work.

[Betty Hermelee]

Dear Neha
Yes, you deserve to celebrate... a very long independence from the British.. and the biggest democracy in the world...brave men fought for you and your country... and then there was peace... congratulations!!!
NICE WRITE!
Warmly, B

[Neha agrawal]

Thank you Betty ! That was the hardest time for india but hats off to those freedom fighters.

[Betty Hermelee]

Amen!! Yes I wish we had some here right now!
A pleasure
Warmly, B

[Laz K.]

Having learned about Gandhi, and the British Empire, and then Partition, and having read stories like "When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine" by Jumpa Lahiri, it is a special experience to read a contemporary voice from India. Your poem fills those narratives with life, and I can feel the hope, the excitement, the passion, the love for your nation, your history, your people. It's inspiring.

[Neha agrawal]

Thank you Laz k. For reading and reviewing.

[carl]

I am not familiar with the history or culture of India, but this is a very nice tribute to your country - well said, and a good handling of free verse, yes? It seems to me that free verse easily turns into prose, but not the case here - I think the alternating longer and shorter lines and the repetition of some key words helps that greatly - nice work - carl

[Neha agrawal]

Thank you carl for reading and review. 😊

[John the Baptist]

I like this because it exalts the good and the possible. No bitterness. No anger.

[Neha agrawal]

Thank you John for the kind review😊

[Arundass TP]

Great poem on Freedom fighting episode of Bharat. Vante mataram

[Neha agrawal]

Vande maataram Arundass TP and thank you for the review😊

[Arundass TP]

Welcome friend

[emmajoygreen]

This is not only fine poetry but a tribute to your past, the present and most definitely - what I pray will be unique and gentle future. What been suffered now needs to lay silent but the future be blessed with a calm and much warranted new beginning.

[Neha agrawal]

Thank you Emma me to think the same for future. Let's wait and see what future holds for us.

[emmajoygreen]

Anticipation and patience oft go hand in hand!