I Call It Home
Not the friendliest of places
The winds sear your skin in sun
Barrens of spaces
winters without mercy
nature in its opposites
made its abode in our nature
invaders have gone in bits
one after the other
where outsiders had little say
From Mughals to British
Pummeled in this soil, they lay
Something in its water is there
It breads revolt than wheat
Patriots, poets, killers, bandits
Stand equal in its heat
Time passes over this land
Future onus of our past
Yet in stubbornness it stands
Unflinching, undaunted
It resists fiercely
like a soothing, rooted tree
Honesty though unsweet
Make it a badland of my country
You cannot conquer it
Where sages, demons roam
They call it Chambal
But I call it Home.
Siddharth Sehgal
Siddharth Sehgal is a writer based in New Delhi, India. He is the editor of online, weekly Indian Periodical and writes on social, political and cultural issues.
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Poetry