I Will Rise

By Shah Bisma Manzoor

In your lyrics, you may keep me alive
with your unwinding and bitter lies,
In your paintings, you may try to
discolour me by the dull hues,
But I will rise again like the foam.
The more you suppress my existence,
the higher and higher I will rise.
Does my lively charm perturb you?
Ah! My charisma apparently disturbs you.
Like the stars shining endlessly,
radiating tirelessly the photons, like the sun,
the billows leaping high so violently,
I too will rise again like certain tides.
You wanted to see me broken apart!
My drooped shoulders, the downcast eyes!
my bruised soul and the poignant cries!
My hearty laugh now pains you though,
my smiles pierce you to death.
Oh! How plaintive my courage seems to you.
You may trample my dreams and crush them,
You may stir my still desires with your evil,
You may kill my aspirations by your insanity,
But …
I will rise again like the birds soaring high

Shah Bisma Manzoor, from Jammu and Kashmir, India, a master in English Literature, works as a Vice Principal of a higher secondary.