Poet Suryaraju Mattimalla
O Nagas, O Kuknalim, O martyrs of the hill,
Your valor shines bright, a beacon, a will,
In the face of the might, of twice-born foes,
You stand unyielding, where the wild river flows.
Like echoes of history, your struggle resounds,
Survivors of shadows, where silence abounds,
In the gas chambers’ grip, our Jewish kin fell,
Yet here in the hills, we too bear our hell.
With each breath that’s silenced, a story unfolds,
Of love and of loss, of courage untold,
For they wish to erase us, to bury our pride,
But our spirits, like mountains, will never subside.
O Battle of Thuda, your fight ignites fire,
In the hearts of our people, a fierce, burning desire,
To reclaim our Nagalim, our sacred embrace,
Where dignity blossoms, and we find our place.
O children of Nagaland, hear my solemn plea,
Respect every heartbeat, let each spirit be free,
For love knows no borders, no caste nor disdain,
In the tapestry of life, we all share the same pain.
Let flags of Nagalim wave high in the sky,
For our dreams are not shackled, our hopes will not die,
Long live Kuknalim, where our voices unite,
In the battle for freedom, we’ll stand and we’ll fight.
O history, bear witness, to our struggle and strife,
For the breath of our land is the pulse of our life.”
Copyright © 2025 Suryaraju Mattimalla. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical publications or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the author.
Author of the published poem: "I Am Nagalim" https://morungexpress.com/i-am-nagalim
Author of the forthcoming publications: "Refugee Poems: Life in Exile," Volume 1; "Refugee Poems: Word in Exile," Volume 2, Wipf and Stock Publisher, USA. (2025)
Author: "Untouchable Poems: Lived Experience with Hindu Religion, Ideology, and Society," Wipf and Stock Publisher, USA. (2024).
Author of the Globally Acclaimed "Compatibility of the Death Penalty with the Purpose of Criminal Punishment in Ethiopia," The Age of Human Rights Journal (2018).
