To Mahatma Gandhi

 

BY GOVIND PAI

 

What do I see in thee, my master?

 

All the world over rings and rings back

The famine-moan of body and soul–Lord, feed Thy lambs!

In thee, my master, I behold

His bread of tomorrow baking in today’s dearth.

 

The song of the sky still athrill in the soul,

Hope strikes against the cage of sighs.

In that harsh beat after beat of today, my master,

I hear in thee tomorrow’s harmony of heavens.

 

At the ferry of tears, beneath the crescent glance

Of a delusive present, we long for the further shore.

I discern in thee, my master,

Tonight’s dark evil quietly unfurl into tomorrow’s white sail.

 

We seek after new life, and would God we could

Soon find it in the one love of the Motherland!

I espy in thee, my master,

Tomorrow’s concord struggling out of our today’s discord.

 

Our tearful prayers unto Him for the Freedom of our country

Have not been in vain, nor ever shall be.

In thee, my master, I perceive His gifts of tomorrow

Delayed because we have not rallied round the today.

 

Back