The Promise

a poem by Abhimanyu Rawat

“I have to leave now”, the young man said.
He put on his uniform and put his sword in his scabbard.
The war was on and he was to serve,
Serve his motherland and leave his mother.
The mother was full of tears.
“Please can you stay?”, she asked.
“No”, was the stern reply.
The mother held her boy to her heart,
It was pounding.
Apprehension- not knowing what to do she cried.
“I’ll come soon mother,
and take you to a place far away.
Where there are no wars, no pain, no anger and no greed.
Only love and hope go hand in hand.”
He turned and mounted his horse, the gallant steed
And the brave rode away,
And disappeared in the dark.
Many a days later the gallant steed returned but the lad wasn’t there.
A man came and explained in hushed tones.
The mother stood the- unflinching, unblinking- stone dead.
The weak soul of her body flew away.
The young lad and his mother are together now-
In a land where there are no wars, no pain, no anger and no greed.
Where only love and hope go hand in hand.