Dear Bapu,
in my heart I revere you.
My deepest being says I love you.
Did you know why you came to the earth,
on that day in October?
Did you know the purpose of your life
when you went to school?
Did you find it in the heady college days?
Did you think being a barrister was cool?
Did you know why you went to South Africa?
Of all places why did you begin your career
so far from your shackled motherland?
What made you turn your steps to India in 1915?
Did you hear the cries of pain of your brothers and sisters?
“I don’t know” was your reply to the question –
Now that you are in India what will you do?
Were you still searching the destiny of your life?
How did you find the aim of your life?
When did you decide to live completely for others?
In all that you went through
Yahweh was preparing you to be Moses.
You led the millions to the land of liberty
and took your leave
in the morning of independence,
nurturing the sapling with your blood.
I am grateful for giving me this precious gift
of free air to breathe.
But I love you for the person you were.
Your dedication to truth,
your way of non-violence even for an enemy,
and your humility, honesty and purity of purpose,
your devotion to God in all that you did.
I love you because you were a man of God
I trust it was your God-centredness that
filled you with the power necessary
to take on the empire, to defeat the giant!
Like father like son is the proverb
Let it be alive in me.
I desire to be like you, Bapu
Let your spirit live in me.
By Xavier Bage
Oct 2, 2015
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