Today's Beautiful Gem: `The Dead Children Will Never Smell the Spring Flowers!'
by M. Udayakala.

"Why can't the grown-ups uncrease their foreheads and smile often?
Why can't the grown-ups forget the past and forgive their foes?
Why can't we shake hands with our friends and also with our enemies?
Why can't we sing the hymns of peace instead of the ballads of war?

"Yesterday, tons of debris buried hundreds of bodies in the heart-land;
The day before, shots rang through the valleys of the Balkans;
And the day before, lives were extinguished on the Mediterranian shores;
And the day before, blood flowed with the melting snow in the Himalayas;

"Our heredity we cannot change; our blood we cannot alter;
Our colour we cannot bleach; our appearance we cannot disguise;
We are what we are; and indeed we have the spark of God!
Yes, we can be what we want to be-- The sky is the limit!

"Who remembers the trickle of a source of the mighty rivers?
Who can forget their life-giving and majestic flow towards the sea?
Who remembers the muddy swamp of the roots of the lotus?
Who can forget their scent, colour and softness as they greet the sun?

"Our origins we cannot alter; but our goals we can define;
Our past we cannot undo; but a golden future we can create.
Let us join our hands in unity, let us extend our hands in amity;
Let us forget the bloody yesterdays, let us hail a peaceful tomorrow!

"Alas, the dead children will never smell the spring flowers!
Alas, the dead children will never build the snow-man again!
Tears for all those men and women who die so unnaturally everyday!
Alas, not only are their dreams and hopes shattered; ours too!"

om s'aantih: Peace! - J. K. Mohana Rao

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