The Mother - Poem of Jalib with English translation

The children were shot dead

The mother, in fury, said

These pieces of my heart

Should cry and I stand apart

Looking on from afar

This I cannot do

I should look on from afar

As the tyrants, night and day

With the blood of my children Holi* play

Besmirched in red

As the children were shot dead

The mother, in fury, said

These pieces of my heart

Should cry and I stand apart

Looking on from afar

This, I cannot do 

* Spring festival played with coloured water

She walked came down to the ground

Like lightening flashing around

The tyrant’s hand trembled

Full of fear the gun frowned

Everywhere her echo did resound

I am hereby bound, I am coming for this round

I am hereby bound, I am coming for this round 

Then oppression became evil

Panic-stricken were those who kill

When she thundered

As our children were murdered 

She said, you vampires

Gold is the be all of your desires

This land belongs to us all

This land, you Dunces Esquires

Lackeys, still, to your British Sires

The sahib’s beneficence

Has not made you landlords: squires

Desist from this tyranny

Back to your barracks, flee

You, who rove ahead

With a gang of plunderers you have bred

As our children were shot dead