বেঁচেছিল, হেসে হেসে খেলা করে বেড়াত সে-- হে প্রকৃতি, তারে নিয়ে কী হল তোমার! শত রঙ-করা পাখি, তোর কাছে ছিল না কি-- কত তারা, বন, সিন্ধু, আকাশ অপার! জননীর কোল হতে কেন তবে কেড়ে নিলি! লুকায়ে ধরার কোলে ফুল দিয়ে ঢেকে দিলি! শত-তারা-পুষ্প-ময়ী মহতী প্রকৃতি অয়ি, নাহয় একটি শিশু নিলি চুরি ক'রে-- অসীম ঐশ্বর্য তব তাহে কি বাড়িল নব? নূতন আনন্দকণা মিলিল কি ওরে? অথচ তোমারি মতো বিশাল মায়ের হিয়া সব শূন্য হয়ে গেল একটি সে শিশু গিয়া।
THE CURRENT in which I drifted ran rapid and strong when I was young. The spring breeze was spendthrift of itself, the trees were on fire with flowers; and the birds never slept from singing. I sailed with giddy speed, carried away by the flood of passion; I had no time to see and feel and take the world into my being. Now that youth has ebbed and I am stranded on the bank, I can hear the deep music of all things, and the sky opens to me its heart of stars.
SHE IS OUR own, the darling of our hearts, Santiniketan. Our dreams are rocked in her arms. Her face is a fresh wonder of love every time we see her, for she is our own, the darling of our hearts. In the shadows of her trees we meet in the freedom of her open sky. Her mornings come and her evenings bringing down heaven's kisses, making us feel anew that she is our own, the darling of our hearts. The stillness of her shades is stirred by the woodland whisper; her amlaki groves are aquiver with the rapture of leaves. She dwells in us and around us, however far we may wander. She weaves our hearts in a song, making us one in music, tuning our strings of love with her own fingers; and we ever remember that she is our own, the darling of our hearts.
