The poem 'My Dear Soldiers'

Who risks their own life to keep you safe? Soldiers, and also doctors and nurses (think how they worked through Covid, when everyone was scared), firefighters, police, lifeguards, and people who help in floods. The second text in Unit 5 is a poem for soldiers: 'My Dear Soldiers' by A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. (When he says 'great sons', he means all soldiers, men and women.)

"Oh! Defenders of borders / You are great sons of my land / When we are all asleep / You still hold on to your deed." The poem speaks directly to the soldiers (you), and sets up the contrast that runs through it: we sleep, you stay awake.

"Windy season or snowy days / Or scorching sun's sweltering rays / You are there guarding all the time awake / Treading the lonely expanses as yogis." Sweltering = uncomfortably hot; an expanse = a wide stretch of empty land. Soldiers are compared to yogis, who also bear hardship alone, without complaining.

"Climbing the heights or striding the valleys / Defending the deserts or guarding the marshes / Surveillance in seas and by securing the air." In three lines the poem covers every terrain: mountains, valleys, deserts, marshes, sea and sky, so it includes all the armed forces.

"Prime of your youth given to the nation!!" The prime of youth is its best, strongest years. The sacrifice isn't only dying; it's the years given up.

"Wind chimes of my land vibrate your feat / We pray for you brave men!! / May the Lord bless you all!!" Wind chimes ring by themselves, without anyone striking them: the land itself sounds out what the soldiers have done.

The theme is patriotism and sacrifice; the tone is admiring, grateful and prayerful (the last stanza is a prayer). Notice: the poem never describes a battle. It's all about the waiting, the weather and the watching, which is most of a soldier's life.