(A Song of Love, Loss, and Condemnation)
We came where the Lidder flow,
Where pine trees guard the earth below.
Pahalgam cradled us in grace,
A honeymoon wrapped in nature’s embrace.
We held each other on the mountain bend,
A love that felt like it would never end.
The air was pure, the sky so wide,
He laughed with joy, I stood by his side.
But then came thunder not from the skies—
Gunfire tore through our lives.
He fell with a whisper, his eyes still warm,
As horror bloomed where dreams were born.
Oh, although the pine still sings,
My heart can't feel a thing.
He died with his arms reaching for light,
In the meadows of Pahalgam… robbed of our right.
Twenty-six souls now sleep in snow,
Where only peace was meant to grow.
Tell me how faith became this blade—
That carves through love in a holy charade.
They came like shadows, hearts turned to stone,
No warning, no mercy, we died alone.
He wasn’t a soldier, just someone in love—
Now he lies silent beneath skies above.
Blood flows through the lush meadow’s green,
In Baisaran Valley, where peace had been.
Now the world itself breathes with grief,
And paradise weeps through every leaf.
How many must die before we say—
That no belief can justify this way?
We light our candles, the world moves on,
But love once lost is never gone.
Condemn these hands that **** and maim,
No God demands this kind of flame.
Let not one more vow be broken by hate—
Let peace rise before it’s too late.
Susanta Pattnayak
In the context of terrorist attacks in Pahalgam, India
