WINGS THAT STILL GUARD THE SKY

WINGS THAT STILL GUARD THE SKY

By Haroon Rashid

He walked with the silence of the sea breeze,
born not into power,
but into promise
a prayer whispered in the pages
of a Holy Quran,
in a house by the waves.

A boy with a paper bag full of stars
became the man who taught missiles to fly,
but never forgot
how to fold a paper plane.

Dr. Kalam never sought war
but he built the wings
to defend peace,
when peace stood cornered
by the storms of ambition and threat.

In the silence before the sirens,
as borders burn with the weight of history,
as satellites spin with dread,
and headlines scream uncertainty,
we remember him.

His dreams wore no crown
only the scent of rockets,
the burn of metal,
and the fragrance of books.
They called him the Missile Man,
but he was more.
He was a monk of science,
a teacher of truth,
a pilgrim of peace
in a world that often forgot how to listen.

Today, missiles rest in hidden silos,
drones hum across the clouds,
and soldiers march toward uncertain dawns.
But somewhere,
his vision marches with them
not in weapons,
but in will.
Not in fire,
but in foresight.

He once said,
“A nation without vision is a nation without future.”
And now,
as the world forgets the language of dialogue,
India remembers the man
who built her strength with humility
and stitched her future
with threads of science and soul.

Even as President,
he carried his own bags,
and a billion hopes
on shoulders not shaped by power,
but by purpose.

His laboratory was his temple,
his heart an orbiting satellite of humility.
He didn’t just ignite minds
he liberated them.

Let the world watch.
Let adversaries test.
India does not seek destruction
but make no mistake:
she is ready.
Because he made her ready.

And while he rests among the stars,
where gravity cannot reach,
his fire still fuels our courage,
his dream still guards our sky,
his wisdom still writes
the silent code
of every soldier’s heart,
and falls softly
into the hands of every child
who dares to dream,
who dares to imagine,
and dares to become.

For every soul that seeks peace,
for every hand that builds rather than destroys,
Dr. Kalam’s legacy is a flame
that will never fade
it is the winged promise
that guards not just India’s sky,
but the sky of every nation
that dares to rise
in hope, in unity, in peace.