Ceasefire?

바카라�Vikram Misri, Foreign Secretary, India

"Pakistan and India have agreed to a ceasefire with immediate effect. Pakistan has always strived for peace and security in the region, without compromising on its sovereignty and territorial integrity."

바카라�Ishaq Dar, Foreign Minister & Deputy Prime Minister, Pakistan

What is the fundamental, the essential and psychological cause of war? The feeling in men바카라�s hearts that it is beautiful. And who have created this feeling? Partly, it is true, kings and their 바카라�armies with banners바카라�; but, far more, poets with their war-songs and epics, sculptors with their statues바카라�the assembled arts which have taken their orders from kings, their inspiration from battles...the feeling that war is beautiful still lingers in men바카라�s hearts, a feeling founded on world-old savageries바카라�love of power, of torture, of murder, love of big stakes in a big game. This feeling must be destroyed, as it was created, through the imagination. It is work for a poet.

바카라�Harriet Monroe, who founded Poetry: A Magazine of Verse in 1912, wrote this as part of her editorial called 바카라�The Poetry of War,바카라� which appeared in the September 1914 issue of the magazine.

In the same issue, POETRY announced 바카라�a prize of $100 for the best poem based on the present European situation. While all poems national and patriotic in spirit will be considered, the editors of POETRY believe that a poem in the interest of peace will express the aim of the highest civilisation.바카라�

We, like Monroe, believe in a poem that is in the interest of peace. We also continue to believe in the works of poets, although the frontiers of journalism are guarded by the myopic gatekeepers who think poetry is not journalism. In times like this when television channels become warmongers and lose all dignity in speech and conduct, a poem can restore some humanity. That바카라�s the toll a war will take.

It is past 6 pm on May 10, 2025. A ceasefire has just been announced. No more fireworks in the night, I hope.

We were almost there. On the brink of war.

On the morning of May 10, 2025, I was on the phone with my mother.

In the news, there were descriptions of explosions, deaths, blackouts.

바카라�Is this a war already?

바카라�Did you pack an emergency kit?바카라�

My mother said she didn바카라�t need one. A war, if it comes, will spare nobody. They are too old to survive it.

바카라�They should stop this now,바카라� she said. 바카라�I was young when the 1971 war happened. I remember getting scared.바카라� I don바카라�t want to get used to any war. For the last few nights, we have been watching drones and missiles in the skies. There is this feeling of powerlessness that engulfs me every now and then. There are some who see the word 바카라�war바카라� and understand that it means suffering and death, not just physical but also of all moral principles. Both sides have not yet called it a 바카라�war바카라�, and yet, it is beginning to feel like one. Emergency toolkits, medicines, food, water and torches and candles and cash. These are prescribed for us in times of uncer- tainty and every evening for the last week, we have stayed awake watching out for more strikes, confirming reports, searching for the truth because that바카라�s another casualty in such times.

How does one find the courage to then say that they stand for peace, that they hope somehow this war never begins because the prelude to it is so frightening already? Cities plunged in darkness, sirens blaring, skies on fire.

I draw courage from the fact that it is necessary. I바카라�d like to pretend I바카라�m not afraid, but I can바카라�t fool myself anymore. I can no longer see the images of loss or read through stories of pain. There is a story in this issue about a little boy who is waiting for his school to open so he can return a rubber ball to his friend. I hope schools reopen now.

Still, I바카라�d like to register my voice as an anti-war voice. I want to do it for that little boy who can return the rubber ball to his friend, for the ones who lost their loved ones in the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22 and the many others who are now 바카라�collateral damage바카라� and must be sacrificed so peace can be won. But no wars have ever brought any peace. 

A lot has been lost already. 

Redemption, retribution, retaliation. When I see the face of the young woman who lost her mother, these words don바카라�t convince me. 

We must remain invulnerable in the constant presence of our conscience, which tells us that war is never heroic. 

A war that didn바카라�t begin has ended. For now. Is it a war?
We can say No. For now. 

THE WAR WILL END 

The war will end
The leaders will shake hands
The old woman will keep waiting for her martyred son The girl will wait for her beloved husband
And those children will wait for their hero father 

I don바카라�t know who sold our homeland But I saw who paid the price 

바카라�Mahmoud Darwish, Palestinian poet 

But we paid a price. Even in those many hours when they hadn바카라�t yet called it a war. 

A poem alone can hold that grief. The rest is all noise. 

Chinki Sinha is editor, Outlook Magazine.

This article is part of Outlook바카라�s May 22, 2025 issue, 바카라�Is This War?바카라�, covering the tense four-day standoff that brought India and Pakistan to the brink of war. It appeared in print as 'Ceasefire?'.