IMPERIAL DELHI

 

                IMPERIAL DELHI

 Many poets have been impressed by the history and historical monuments of  Delhi because this city has been the capital of India under the rule of many political powers. According to historians it has been home to powerful people such as the Pandavas and the Mughals. “Imperial Delhi” is the title of the poem written by Sarojini Naidu in 1912. She was born on 13 February 1879 in Hyderabad  and died on  March 1949 in Lucknow. Besides being a political activist and holding many positions in her life including Governorship of United Provinces (now Uttar Pradesh}, she was a great poet and was called ‘Nightingale of India’ by Mahatma Gandhi.

            The poem reads as follows:-

IMPERIAL City ! dowered with sovereign grace

To thy renascent glory still there clings

The splendid tragedy of ancient things,

The regal woes of many a vanquished race;

The memory’s tears are cold upon thy face

E’en while thy heart’s returning gladness rings

Loud on the sleep of thy forgotten kings,

Who in thine arms sought Life’s last resting-place.

 

Thy changing kings and kingdoms pass away

The gorgeous legends of a by-gone day,

But thou dost still immutably remain

Unbroken symbol of proud histories,

Unageing priestess of old mysteries

Before whose shrine the spells of Death are vain.

            Moral: Imperial Delhi Is Immortal Delhi

                                    ******

 

G.R.Kanwal

8^th February 2024