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I once feared that a generation had arrived
with neither feet to stand nor wings to fly
Yet even those heavy layers of sorrow
have slowly begun to evaporate.
Like a faded memory drifting in summer haze
a small slogan once floated in the air
soft, uncertain, almost forgotten
I could not tell then
whose voice it was,
for whom it cried,
or what it sought to change
But something faint stirred in my chest
Years later, I hear it again
the same small uprising of breath,
now leaping over borders
running across continents.
In every young voice today
resounds a single vow
to quench the darkness in their hearts
and flood their lives with light.
Inequality has built tall, thick walls,
stretching long, suffocating shadows.
In that shade stands today’s youth
choosing, at last,
to break from silence
and become sound.
For every night when living costs climb
for every morning when a dream is lost
for hopes powdered with dust
on forgotten lips—
they asked for answers
and they still do.
From the roaring hills of Nepal,
to the rain-charged streets of Dhaka,
to the flaming crossroads of Sri Lanka
the world vibrates with the pulse of youth.
No leaders, no flag claims them
yet their hearts burn.
And with that fire comes courage
to tell Time itself:
“No more. Not like this.”
Prices rise
the future frays like torn cloth
inequality climbs like an unscalable wall.
This generation shoulders burdens
that outpace even their youth.
In these times, when a single storm
can push a family into poverty
it is the young who stand
not for themselves,
but for what tomorrow must become.
“Life feels darker today
than it did fifty years ago,”
many say around the world.
And yet on the faces of young people in the streets
very darkness glows
like the wick of a new lamp
With every protest they write
in red and breath and heartbeat
the history of their age.
With every chant they release
the future hidden in their lungs.
These are not mere rallies
they are the marching drums
of a new era.
Across borders
the footsteps of the young
echo and re-echo one truth
“We are the change.
We are tomorrow.
No more Not like this.”
(With love to the young of Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka.) |
