Let’s hear a tale which is both congenial and bitter, 

My Grandmother said,” About a person who was both a miscreant and a victor”,

Nonetheless, he was definitely a fighter,

Let’s hear a tale about a man with chains around his neck

 

“I will serve my nation till my last breath”, he had once said looking in the mirror,

Who knew his last breath would be in the domicile of his killer,

Where he would be chained and beaten like a sinister,

Let’s hear a tale about a man with chains around his neck.

 

 

“If he doesn’t cooperate, put chains around his neck”, said the commander,

Chains which were made of hot metal yet colder,

For they weren’t made of steel or silver,

But of hatred for one another,
Let’s hear a tale about a man with chains around his neck.

 

 

The chains around his neck made him a prisoner,

A prisoner of war they would whisper,

But the war didn’t make him a prisoner, it was something bigger,

It was the cruelty of communalism that turned him into a prisoner,

Let’s hear a tale about a man with chains around his neck.

 

As he stood there, chained, he wondered if this is what it feels like to be a winner,

Fear lingered in his mind, “Does my sacrifice even matter”, or am I just a sinner

For neither mine nor the countless deaths before me could get both sides to have a joint dinner 

Even After 75 years, on both sides of the border, rules our inner monster,

Let’s hear a tale about a man with chains around his neck.

 

As time passed, the chains got tighter,

Yet the grudges and animosity managed to choke him faster,

He gasped for breath and his lips began to quiver,

He finally embraced death in the hope that a border never becomes the reason for another murder,

And ends the tale about the man with chains around his neck.

 

“That story wasn’t just about any man”, said my grandmother as her voice began to shiver, 

“It was the story of your grandfather, whose body was found along the downriver”,

“A hero of this nation dedicated to achieving the goals he was asked to deliver”,

“And my  youth of today, this is the tale you need to remember “, 

“The tale about the hero with chains around his neck”.