IN THE morning, when the dew glistened upon the grass, you came and gave a push to my swing; but, sweeping from smiles to tears, I did not know you.
Then came April's noon of gorgeous light, and I think you beckoned me to follow you.
        But when I sought your face, there passed between us the procession of flowers, and men and women flinging their songs to the south wind.
Daily I passed you unheeded on the road.
But on some days full of the faint smell of oleanders, when the wind was wilful among complaining palm leaves, I would stand before you wondering if you ever had been a stranger to me.

MY BIRTHDAY!
With Death's passport in hand
it has emerged from its dive into the chasm of nothingness
to breathe a while on the outskirts of existence.
From the worn-out chain have dropped the beads of the past years
and with this newest birthday
begins the counting of the days of a new-born life.
The welcome offered today to me,
a passer-by,
who tries to con the signal of the morning of an unknown star
beckoning him towards an uncharted voyage,
is shared equally by his birthday
and the time of his death,
who mingle their lights like those of the morning star
and of the waning moon.
And I shall sing the same chant to both,
to death and to life.
Grant me. Mother Earth,
that my life's mirage born of burning thirst
may recede in the farthest horizon
and my unclean beggar's bowl empty into the dust
its accumulated defilements;
and as I start my crossing to the unrevealed shore
let me never look back with longing
on the last leavings of the feast of life.
Now when in this sleep-laden dusk of the day's end
the meaning is lost of the keen-bladed hunger
with which you had goaded me to drag life's chariot
you begin to withdraw your gifts from me one by one.
Slight has grown your need of me
and slight have you made my use
and set on my forehead the stamp of the discarded.
I feel it all and yet I know,
all this contumely of yours
will not reduce my worth to nought.
Cripple me, if you will,
shut out all light from my eyes,
shroud me in the shadow of infirmity,
yet in the dilapidated temple of my being
the ancient god will remain enthroned.
Work your havoc and pile up the wreck,
yet in the midst of this ruin
the luminous spot of inward joy
will burn bright as ever.
For it was fed day after day on the heavenly wine
which the gods pour on earth through every sight and sound.
I had loved them all
and sung of that love.
That love has lifted me above your bounds,
the love that shall abide, even though its words grow feeble,
defaced by constant use.
On this love of mine have traced their autographs
the pollen of the mango-blossom,
and the dew-cooled fragrance of the sephalika
the twitterings of the doels in early dawn
and the rapturous touch of the beloved.
When I take my leave of you, 0 Earth,
take back from me, carefully reckoning,
all that you had vouchsafed to me,
the outfit and provision for a life's sojourn.
Yet never think that I hold your gifts but slight.
Ever grateful I am to this clay-cast mould
through which I have had my introduction to the Formless.
Whenever I have approached your doors
with the mind free from all coveting,
I have been made welcome to your heart.
I know your gifts are not for the greedy,
that you withhold the nectar hidden in your earthen pot
from the ravenous lips of those that hunger obscenely.
You are waiting, O Earth, with your immortal gifts,
to welcome the wayfarer who treads the arduous path of detachment.
The gluttons who lust for flesh,
the traffickers in festering carrion,
have banded today in their orgies of violence, day and night.
Yet mockery tempts my smile, as of old,
at the pompous folly of the learned,
at the tyranny of the beggarly rich,
at the hideous make-up of the showy,
at the blasphemy that lampoons the divine in Man.
Enough of this. The bell tolls the last hour at your porch,
and my heart responds to the creaking of the opening gates of farewell.
In this deepening gloom of the twilight,
I will gather what flickering flames remain to light my fading
consciousness,
to offer my last worship to you, 0 Earth,
under the gaze of the Seven Rishis.
And the incense of my last silent song will float round you.
Behind me will remain the nagkeshar plant
that has yet to flower,
the anguished heart of this shore
yearning in vain for a ferry across,
and love's self-reproach at its tired memory
vanishing behind the screen of daily task.

মনে হয়েছিল আজ সব-কটা দুর্গ্রহ
চক্র ক'রে বসেছে দুর্মন্ত্রণায়।
অদৃষ্ট জাল ফেলে অন্তরের শেষ তলা থেকে
টেনে টেনে তুলছে নাড়ি-ছেঁড়া যন্ত্রণাকে।
মনে হয়েছিল, অন্তহীন এই দুঃখ;
মনে হয়েছিল, পন্থহীন নৈরাশ্যের বাধায়
শেষ পর্যন্ত এমনি ক'রে
অন্ধকার হাতড়িয়ে বেড়ানো।
ভিতসুদ্ধ বাসা গেছে ডুবে,
ভাগ্যের ভাঙনের অপঘাতে।
এমন সময়ে সদ্যবর্তমানের
প্রাকার ডিঙিয়ে দৃষ্টি গেল
দূর অতীতের দিগন্তলীন
বাগ্‌বাদিনীর বাণীসভায়
যুগান্তরের ভগ্নশেষের ভিত্তিচ্ছায়ায়
ছায়ামূর্তি বাজিয়ে তুলেছে রুদ্রবীণায়
পুরাণখ্যাত কালের কোন্‌ নিষ্ঠুর আখ্যায়িকা।
দুঃসহ দুঃখের স্মরণতন্তু দিয়ে গাঁথা
সেই দারুণ কাহিনী।
কোন্‌ দুর্দাম সর্বনাশের
বজ্রঝঞ্ঝনিত মৃত্যুমাতাল দিনের
হুহুংকার,
যার আতঙ্কের কম্পনে
ঝংকৃত করছে বীণাপাণি
আপন বীণার তীব্রতম তার।
দেখতে পেলেম
কতকালের দুঃখ লজ্জা গ্লানি,
কত যুগের জলৎধারা মর্মনিঃস্রাব
সংহত হয়েছে,
ধরেছে দহনহীন বাণীমূর্তি
অতীতের সৃষ্টিশালায়।
আর তার বাইরে পড়ে আছে
নির্বাপিত বেদনার পর্বতপ্রমাণ ভস্মরাশি,
জ্যোতির্হীন বাক্যহীন অর্থশূন্য।