हरिवंश राय बच्चन वीर रस देश प्रेम कविता: रुके न तू

Here is an exhortation from Harivansh Rai Bachchan to leave inaction and to work with full enthusiasm and vigor. A good poem for children to recite.

धरा हिला, गगन गुँजा
नदी बहा, पवन चला
विजय तेरी, विजय तेरीे
ज्योति सी जल, जला
भुजा–भुजा, फड़क–फड़क
रक्त में धड़क–धड़क

धनुष उठा, प्रहार कर
तू सबसे पहला वार कर
अग्नि सी धधक–धधक
हिरन सी सजग सजग
सिंह सी दहाड़ कर
शंख सी पुकार कर

रुके न तू, थके न तू
झुके न तू, थमे न तू
सदा चले, थके न तू
रुके न तू, झुके न तू

∼ हरिवंश राय बच्चन

Harivansh Rai Bachchan, was an Indian poet of the Nayi Kavita literary movement (romantic upsurge) of early 20th century Hindi literature. Born in a Hindu Awadhi Indian Srivastava Kayastha family, in Allahabad in the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, in British India, he was also a poet of the Hindi Kavi Sammelan. He is best known for his early work Madhushala (मधुशाला).

Harivansh Rai Bachchan came from a Hindu caste that was fluent in several Hindustani dialects (Awadhi, Hindi, Urdu) as well as Persian. He incorporated a broadly Hindi-Urdu vocabulary, written in Hindi script. While he could not read Persian script, he was influenced by Persian and Urdu poetry, particularly Omar Khayyam.

Harivansh Rai Bachchan‘s work has been used in movies and music. Examples include couplets of his work “Agneepath” are used throughout in the movie Agneepath (1990 film) again starring Amitabh Bachchan and later in the remake Agneepath (2012 film).