PoemsPatriotic poems on India
Poems for 15 August and 26 January that children can recite and mean. They are about the country as people live it: its trains, its languages, its duties.
English
My Country
My country wakes to temple bells, to azaan, hymns and school bus horns. It drinks its tea from clay and steel and argues well on winter morns. It speaks in more than twenty tongues and understands in one: a smile. It waits in queues, it shares a seat, it walks with strangers for a mile. I love it not for being first, or being right, or being grand. I love it like a child loves home: it's mine. I'll help to make it stand.
ShareYourGroupThe Flag
Saffron for the ones who dared, white for truth that walks alone, green for fields that feed us all, a wheel that will not be a stone. It does not ask to be waved high by hands that litter, lie or hate. It asks for something harder: us, at work, on time, and standing straight.
ShareYourGroupThe Soldier's Post
Where maps turn white and roads give up, a man in wool stands guard tonight. He has a mother, and a field, a daughter who has learnt to write. Her letter says: come home for Holi. He folds it small against the cold. We sleep because he is awake. Let that, on flag days, too be told.
ShareYourGroupThe Vote
My grandmother cannot read the names. She knows the symbols well. She wears her best, she takes her stick, She waits for the polling bell. One finger marked with purple ink She holds up like a prize. A queen for just one morning, she, And equal in all eyes.
ShareYourGroupThe Train
It leaves a town where Tamil sings And wakes where Hindi speaks. It passes fields of rice and wheat, And rivers, plains and peaks. A hundred tongues in one long coach, One tea, one window view. If you would see my country whole, Sit down. I'll sit by you.
ShareYourGroup
हिन्दी
मेरा भारत
उत्तर में हिमगिरि का पहरा, दक्षिण में सागर लहराता। पूरब से सूरज उगता है, पश्चिम तक सोना बिखराता। यहाँ ईद की सेवइयाँ हैं, यहाँ दिवाली के दीये। गुरुपर्व का लंगर चलता, क्रिसमस के तारे लिये। भाषा अनेक, वेश अनेक, फिर भी दिल की बात वही। मेरा भारत एक बग़ीचा, हर फूल की ख़ुशबू सही।
ShareYourGroupतिरंगा
केसरिया कहता: साहस रखो, श्वेत कहे: सच पर चलो। हरा कहे: धरती को सींचो, चक्र कहे: रुको नहीं, चलो। इसे हवा में लहराना है तो पहले मन में फहराओ। नियम निभाओ, काम करो, तब जय हिंद के नारे लगाओ।
ShareYourGroupसैनिक
बर्फ़ीली चोटी पर खड़ा है, आँधी हो या रात घनी। हम घर में चैन से सोते हैं, उसकी आँखों में नींद नहीं। माँ की चिट्ठी जेब में रखकर सरहद पर वह डटा हुआ। उसके कंधों पर टिका हुआ है देश हमारा, बचा हुआ।
ShareYourGroupअच्छा नागरिक
झंडा ऊँचा करने वालो, पहले गली को साफ़ करो। क़तार में अपनी बारी लो, छोटों से इंसाफ़ करो। बत्ती लाल हो, रुक जाओ, टैक्स समय पर भर आओ। देशभक्ति का यही सबक़ है: अपना काम ठीक निभाओ।
ShareYourGroupसंविधान
एक किताब है देश की, जिसमें सबका नाम लिखा। राजा हो या रंक यहाँ, सबको एक समान लिखा। बोलने का हक़ है इसमें, पढ़ने का अधिकार भी। और लिखा है फ़र्ज़ हमारा, देश से सच्चा प्यार भी।
ShareYourGroup
ਪੰਜਾਬੀ
ਮੇਰਾ ਦੇਸ਼
ਰੰਗ ਬਿਰੰਗੀਆਂ ਬੋਲੀਆਂ ਇੱਥੇ, ਰੰਗ ਬਿਰੰਗੇ ਬਾਣੇ। ਫਿਰ ਵੀ ਇੱਕੋ ਮਾਲਾ ਦੇ ਵਿੱਚ ਸਾਰੇ ਮੋਤੀ ਦਾਣੇ। ਕਿਸਾਨ ਇਹਦਾ ਅੰਨ ਉਗਾਵੇ, ਜਵਾਨ ਕਰੇ ਰਖਵਾਲੀ। ਮੇਰੇ ਦੇਸ਼ ਦੀ ਮਿੱਟੀ ਵਿੱਚੋਂ ਮਹਿਕੇ ਸਦਾ ਖ਼ੁਸ਼ਹਾਲੀ।
ShareYourGroupਤਿਰੰਗਾ
ਕੇਸਰੀ ਰੰਗ ਕੁਰਬਾਨੀ ਦਾ, ਚਿੱਟਾ ਅਮਨ ਦਾ ਹਾਣੀ। ਹਰਾ ਰੰਗ ਖੇਤਾਂ ਦੀ ਰੌਣਕ, ਚੱਕਰ ਤੋਰ ਦੀ ਨਿਸ਼ਾਨੀ। ਉੱਚਾ ਝੁੱਲੇ ਸਦਾ ਤਿਰੰਗਾ, ਇਹੀ ਅਰਦਾਸ ਅਸਾਡੀ। ਇਹਦੀ ਸ਼ਾਨ ਦੇ ਵਿੱਚ ਹੀ ਵੱਸਦੀ ਆਨ ਤੇ ਸ਼ਾਨ ਅਸਾਡੀ।
ShareYourGroup
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Independence Day or Republic Day?
The two days have different moods, and the right poem shows that you know it. 15 August remembers the freedom struggle, so poems of gratitude, the flag and the soldier suit it: "The Flag", "तिरंगा", "The Soldier's Post", "सैनिक". 26 January marks the day in 1950 when the Constitution came into force, so poems about citizens, rights and duties fit better: "My Country", "अच्छा नागरिक" and "The Vote". A poem about the country's everyday life, its trains and languages and festivals, works on both.
Reciting a patriotic poem
- Stand straight, feet together, hands at your sides or lightly clasped.
- Do not shout. Volume is not feeling. Speak firmly and let the last line ring.
- Slow down at the names: India, Bharat, the tricolour. Give them room.
- If the programme includes the National Anthem, your poem comes before or after it, never over it.
- End with "Jai Hind" only if the function's custom allows it, and say it once.
Group recitation
These poems divide easily among a class. Give one stanza to each speaker and the final stanza to everyone together. Practise the handover so that there is no gap: each speaker takes a half step forward as the one before finishes. In the Hindi poems, a chorus on the last two lines works well with younger children.
Keep it inclusive
A good patriotic poem loves the country without needing an enemy. These poems name no other nation and no community, and speak of India as its people live it. If you write your own verse to add, keep to the same rule: pride in what we build, grow, speak and share. Historic slogans to use with your programme are on Slogans, and the national songs with their history are on our India's classics page.
Good to know
- Stand straight, speak slowly and do not shout. A patriotic poem needs feeling more than volume.