THE WAR drums are sounded.
Men force their features into frightfulness and gnash their teeth;
and before they rush out to gather raw human flesh for death's larder,
they march to the temple of Buddha, the compassionate,
to claim his blessings,
while loud beats the drum rat-a-tat
and earth trembles.
They pray for success;
for they must raise weeping and wailing
in their wake, sever des of love,
plant flags on the ashes of desolated homes,
devastate the centres of culture
and shrines of beauty,
mark red with blood their trail
across green meadows and populous markets,
and so they march to the temple of Buddha, the compassionate,
to claim his blessings,
while loud beats the drum rat-a-tat
and earth trembles.
They will punctuate each thousand of the maimed and killed
with the trumpeting of their triumph,
arouse demon's mirth at the sight
of the limbs torn bleeding from women and children;
and they pray that they may befog minds with untruths
and poison God's sweet air of breath,
and therefore they march to the temple of Buddha, the compassionate,
to claim his blessings,
while loud beats the drum rat-a-tat
and earth trembles.

IT IS SAID that in the forest, near the meeting of river and lake, certain fairies live in disguise who are only recognised as fairies after they have flown away.
        A Prince went to this forest, and when he came where river met lake he saw a village girl sitting on the bank ruffling the water to make the lilies dance.
        He asked her in a whisper, 'Tell me, what fairy art thou?'
        The girl laughed at the question and the hillsides echoed her mirth.
        The Prince thought she was the laughing fairy of the waterfall.
News reached the King that the Prince had married a fairy: he sent horses and men and brought them to his house.
        The Queen saw the bride and turned her face away in disgust, the Prince's sister flushed red with annoyance, and the maids asked if that was how fairies dressed.
        The Prince whispered, 'Hush! my fairy has come to our house in disguise.'
On the day of the yearly festival the Queen said to her son, 'Ask your bride not to shame us before our kinsfolk who are coming to see the fairy.'
        And the Prince said to his bride, 'For my love's sake show thy true self to my people.'
        Long she sat silent, then nodded her promise while tears ran down her cheeks.
The full moon shone, the Prince, dressed in a wedding robe, entered his bride's room.
        No one was there, nothing but a streak of moonlight from the window aslant the bed.
        The kinsfolk crowded in with the King and the Queen, the Prince's sister stood by the door.
        All asked, 'Where is the fairy bride?'
The Prince answered, 'She has vanished for ever to make herself known to you.'

                   তোমারে ছাড়িয়া যেতে হবে
                                      রাত্রি যবে
উঠিবে উন্মনা হয়ে প্রভাতের রথচক্ররবে।
                             হায় রে বাসরঘর,
বিরাট বাহির সে যে বিচ্ছেদের দস্যু ভয়ংকর।
                             তবু সে যতই ভাঙেচোরে
মালাবদলের হার যত দেয় ছিন্ন ছিন্ন করে,
                             তুমি আছ ক্ষয়হীন
                                      অনুদিন;
                                      তোমার উৎসব
বিচ্ছিন্ন না হয় কভু, না হয় নীরব।
কে বলে তোমারে ছেড়ে গিয়েছে যুগল
                             শূন্য করি তব শয্যাতল।
                             যায় নাই, যায় নাই,
নব নব যাত্রীমাঝে ফিরে ফিরে আসিছে তারাই
                             তোমার আহ্বানে
                     উদার তোমার দ্বার-পানে।
                             হে বাসরঘর,
বিশ্বে প্রেম মৃত্যুহীন, তুমিও অমর।