Divided by a Stream, Somewhere in Kashmir

They come everyday
The three of them.
Two together and
One alone after their
School gets over and
They play together
With a stream dividing
Them, making them
Inhabitants of two countries.

They do not know each other's name,
Nor the names of the schools
They go to nor the
Names of the streets
They live in.

Yet they count each
Other as friends.

And after the game
Gets over everyday
They return home
Winners or losers!

Every afternoon they
Pick up stones, pebbles
From the bank of the stream
And throw those into
The water as their voices
Are carried away from
Them by the wind into
A no man's land. And
The pebble that skips
Most on the surface
Of the rivulet is declared
A winner.

And the loser comes
Back the next afternoon
With better resolve to
Make his pebble skip
More on the surface of
The rivulet, as their
Two nations and its
Leaders make new
Schemes to monger war.