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When Tomorrow Starts Without Me: A Poem by Nibedita Rajguru

You will hear the echo,
You will feel the heat of a leaping wildfire,
The cry for awakening,
Reclaiming the justice,
Calling for an order that has long gone haywire.
My screeches were stifled,
Beneath a forceful power,
An eerie silence throttles my core,
Wrenching my heart, that roar in a pitch higher,
Heard by none.
The insult I bore is the testimony of time,
My pain is in the fervor,
That surges in every corner,
The one beneath every face,
Is a fighter holding the banner,
“A fighter” who stands for righteousness.
“A fighter” who strongly adheres to fairness.
When tomorrow starts without me,
Let your eyes not tear,
But simmer in a glitter of pride,
For the battle, I put up until my last ounce of air.
Without bowing my head in surrender,
I stood tall for the just order.