I admire Naeem Sadiq's courage and sincerity concerning August 14 as a day of shame. 

Please feel free to circulate my poem on the same subject to Family of the Heart.

Regards,

Rashid Mughal

Weep for August is here again

Just yesterday not very long ago

I was a sanguine and happy son

proud of my noble heritage

rooted in the soil of Hindustan

Today I am sad not happy to say

I love my India – or my Pakistan

Who knows what made my people

in Indus Valley cradle of civilization

home of the brave to embark

on a personal odyssey by dhow

in 1894 across the seven seas

to a land and people unknown

golden links there to bind

with open hearts and open minds

They left behind the lush valleys

their homes and fields in the Punjab

at the behest of Britannia to build

the Iron Snake in the hinterland

of East Africa teeming with its own

heartbeat exotic flora and fauna

the famed man-eaters of Tsavo

in the fabled Dark Continent 

I am not a proud Indian my brother

Nor a patriotic nationalistic Pakistani

I am not half Indian half Pakistani

Nor all your ideas of patriotism

I am not any of your opinions of me

On August 14 and on August 15

I am sad when I see the mad rejoicing

patriotism and political sloganeering

professing hate as if the madness

and infighting that created the two nations

by spilling so much blood was something

to celebrate then or now as you mark

a meaninglessly racist republic day

How we forget that ten million lives

were uprooted lost or destroyed

in the mad frenzy and mayhem

in the nationalistic ritual of killing

by the Brahmin and the Mussulman

and followers of Nanak and Christ

Over generations my soul’s melted

in the crucible of time transformed

my niggardly self transcending

into a simple citizen of the world

I don’t wish to be reminded today

of ancient glories or old rivalries

of olden histories or golden days

I propose a toast to our insanity

to weep for August is here again

weep my brother weep for we’ve

a tragedy bigger more gruesome

than the Holocaust can’t you see

the star-spangled angel of death

Weep you animal weep you beast

Make this August a wailing wall

for humanity to visit and repent

© 2003 Rashid Mughal