The Mother's Lullaby

By Prabhnoor Gomra

In the quiet night’s embrace,

The mother said to her cubs,

“Look at the stars in space!

They’ll guard you through the night”

“So sleep sound, my love

And slowly drift to sleep,

Dream of a majestic land,

One where you won’t weep”

“Dream of an enchanting place,

A place so ethereal and sublime,

Where humans won’t shoot you dead,

But cradle you calmly to sleep instead”

“I want you to dream endlessly,

And escape this living nightmare,

Of living in the lush and abundant forests,

Like I did before I ended up here”

“I wish you could’ve lived a life,

A life where you could become friends with the birds,

A life where you listen to the ancient stories of the trees,

A life where you fall asleep on the soft grass with ease”

“A life where you smell the fragrance,

of the delicate and intoxicating flowers,

And listen to the rippling of the water,

A life where you know you matter”

“Dream about the rustling of the leaves

The impressive dance of the wind

The echoes of the melodious sounds

The chirp of the crickets from nearby grounds”

“For now you will have to imagine,

Since I can’t give you this life,

But don’t you ever forget,

Living shouldn’t be something you regret”

“You deserve a fair chance at life”

With her cubs now asleep, she sheds a single tear

Hoping that their dreams somehow come true

And the sound of gun-shots aren’t what they hear”

Every voice that speaks up,

Every hand that puts the gun down,

Weaves the threads of the future

One that’s firm, Not one that makes us frown

In the silence of the night,

In the whispers of the stars,

A quest for harmony ignites,

A place where tigers and humans unite.

By Prabhnoor Gomra