O Revered Soldier

Your lifelong preparedness
To defend our motherland
Against the dreadful enemies
Ensures normalcy all around.

Your incessant, alert vision,
Drawing inspiration from your dogged discipline,
Earns us all a peaceful sleep
Bereft of any fear or fuss.

Your grit to survive,
Against all odds,
To crush the opponents upfront
Lends us all a lesson or two.

Your rare lessons of sacrifice
Scattered across the life’s path
Oft challenge the high decibel
Of our plastic pledges.

Your ardent agonies, O Revered Soldier,
For not seeing your child’s first smile
Or your grandma’s last, shall never go in vain,
And win you in turn a lasting smile
On the face of our motherland.

[Published earlier at StoryMirror]