I am alive, and I am breathing, my wounds are misleading

I am neither hurt nor injured, neither deterred, nor hindered

I am serving my purpose, just the way rain must pour, the river must flow, and fire burn and crackle

This shackle,

Is only mine, and I will not carry it forward

These chains are only mine, and this pain will not move onward

My daughter will grow and bloom, in a world that isn’t born yet

and if I must die to birth it, I will not forget,

why I was born

this fight will die with us and if I must die to let another be born free,

I am a sea,

of martyrs who win the war when they die,

so why not?

I am the dam, I am the bridge and I will chip away at myself to let the tomorrow’s river flow

You know, the future we fight for is so beautiful that being a mere step towards it,

Is often enough

So I am neither maimed, nor hurt

I am the desert,

That will revert,

And spring if she should grin,

Knows,

“Tomorrow the next chapter would begin”

 

From Jaishree Misra’s “Ancient Promises”