All is Said but not Done

Everything has been tried—

From cajoling to condescension,

Gentle pellets to ammunition.

These are people of a different

Kind; they think they have

A right to their own mind.

They do not know that democracies

The world-over have long left

That sort of thinking well behind.

Have we not interlocuted for

Many a year? Have we not told

Them what they must hear?

Whatever may be said has been

Said; it is their wish to proliferate

The valley with the dead. Alas,

What other course is there now

But honest-to-the-nation force?

Always and ever, what we do is

For their own good; the better

Their prospects the sooner

This is understood. Thus, shoulder

To the gun, and fire away; how

Else may democracy win the day?

Badri Raina