{The strip of land between the borders of adjacent countries is often called No Man's Land. Ironically many victims of war between neighbouring nations end up being disowned by both sides-like the Bengal and Indo-Pak partitions. But beyond the immediate dilemma of wars is a more broader conflict of the purpose of humankind which again remains unclassified just like the strip of No Man's Land}
Serpents of wires all around
with thorns that could pierce you through.
Gates and walls of fortress
armouring the world from his view.
All alone, on his own
thinking how life could be so unfair;
Did he come from his left , or is his home to the right?
helplessly stuck in the middle of nowhere.
He looked up at the heavens with indignant eyes,
for no philosophy could make him understand-
why he was lost somewhere between the sky and the earth,
why he was living in No Man's Land.
Every time in history that this happens again,
families are at stake as a nation breaks.
Forced to choose between two homes, as if between their two eyes,
humankind is suddenly a deal of gives and takes!
But what about those less fortunate souls
whose hearts don't understand the politics of some heads?
Cant give up on one,cant do without the other;
they end up somewhere with no behinds nor aheads.
If past is where they came from and future is where they cannot go,
with no open doors, no guiding stars nor a helping hand,
are they at fault or is it a more divine plan
that they are stranded in No Man's Land?
Do oceans have gates? Or the land walls?
Does nature have any borders to intervene?
For in one's end is another's beginning
Where then is the place for the in-between?
When every figment of man's imagination
can surpass beyond the infinite,
why then is he crouching into his cocoon?
Why not the threads of love does he knit?
Blindfolded by his greed for power
Is An illusionary 'kingdom' his only wish, only demand?
Stuck between his wants and needs,
Man himself is grounded to No Man's Land.
I haven't seen war , I haven't seen the pain
of losing a home and being denied another
but some how i feel something deep within
as if im near where i belong....and yet much farther
I stretch my arms and i can touch my dream
but try as i may, till them i still cant reach.
How many unseen walls and unwritten rules
for this should i break, bend or breach?
Do I really have a purpose? a dream of my own?
or within a string of dead-ends is my destiny spanned?
lost somewhere between my beginning and my end
am i not then another prisoner in No Man's Land?
Love and hate, War and peace
life is a crossword of synonyms and antonyms.
Drawn into this puzzle with an urge to make sense
we have got ourselves stringed to suit The Puppeteer's whims.
No one owns the land, waters or skies,
And yet none of these can we disown!
All that is truly owned is this moment here, now,
one more moment to be lived before its flown!
Why then this conquest? why then this race?
Is this crystal clear truth that difficult to understand?
That Caught somewhere between birth and death,
We all travel together in this journey through No Man's Land.
By
Neethi Narayanan
