HER NEIGHBOURS call her dark in the village-but she is a lily to my heart, yes, a lily though not fair. Light came muffled with clouds, when first I saw her in the field; her head was bare, her veil was off, her braided hair hanging loose on her neck. She may be dark as they say in the village, but I have seen her black eyes and am glad. The pulse of the air boded storm. She rushed out of the hut, when she heard her dappled cow low in dismay. For a moment she turned her large eyes to the clouds, and felt a stir of the coming rain in the sky. I stood at the corner of the ricefield,-if she noticed me, it was known only to her (and perhaps I know it). She is dark as the message of shower in summer, dark as the shade of flowering woodland; she is dark as the longing for unknown love in the wistful night of May.
I ONLY SAID, 'When in the evening the round full moon gets entangled among the branches of that Kadam tree, couldn't somebody catch it?' But dada' laughed at me and said, 'Baby, you are the silliest child I have ever known. The moon is ever so far from us, how could anybody catch it?' I said, 'Dada, how foolish you are! When mother looks out of her window and smiles down at us playing, would you call her far away?' Still dada said, 'You are a stupid child! But, baby, where could you find a net big enough to catch the moon with?' I said, 'Surely you could catch it with your hands.' But dada laughed and said, 'You are the silliest child I have known. If it came nearer, you would see how big the moon is.' I said, 'Dada, what nonsense they teach at your school! When mother bends her face down to kiss us does her face look very big?' But still dada says, 'You are a stupid child.'
জগৎ জুড়ে উদার সুরে আনন্দগান বাজে, সে গান কবে গভীর রবে বাজিবে হিয়া-মাঝে। বাতাস জল আকাশ আলো সবারে কবে বাসিব ভালো, হৃদয়সভা জুড়িয়া তারা বসিবে নানা সাজে। নয়নদুটি মেলিলে কবে পরান হবে খুশি, যে পথ দিয়া চলিয়া যাব সবারে যাব তুষি। রয়েছ তুমি, এ কথা কবে জীবন-মাঝে সহজ হবে, আপনি কবে তোমারি নাম ধ্বনিবে সব কাজে।
