BEHIND THE rusty iron gratings of the opposite window sits a girl, dark and plain of face, like a boat stranded on a sand-bank when the river is shallow in the summer.
        I come back to my room after my day's work, and my tired eyes are lured to her.
        She seems to me like a lake with its dark lonely waters edged by moonlight.
        She has only her window for freedom: there the morning light meets her musings, and through it her dark eyes like lost stars travel back to their sky.

I. 36. sur parkas, tanh rain kahan paiye
WHERE is THE night, when the sun is shining? If it is night, then the sun withdraws its light.
Where knowledge is, can ignorance endure? If there be ignorance, then knowledge must die.
If there be lust, how can love be there? Where there is love, there is no lust.
Lay hold on your sword, and join in the fight. Fight, O my brother, as long as life lasts.
Strike off your enemy's head, and there make an end of him quickly: then come, and bow your head at your King's Durbar.
He who is brave, never forsakes the battle: he who flies from it is no true fighter.
In the field of this body a great war goes forward, against passion, anger, pride, and greed:
It is in the kingdom of truth, contentment and purity, that this battle is raging; and the sword that rings forth most loudly is the sword of His Name.
Kabir says: 'When a brave knight takes the field, a host of cowards is put to flight.
It is a hard fight and a weary one, this fight of the truth-seeker: for the vow of the truth-seeker is more hard than that of the warrior, or of the widowed wife who would follow her husband.
For the warrior fights for a few hours, and the widow's struggle with death is soon ended:
But the truth-seeker's battle goes on day and night, as long as life lasts it never ceases.'

অজস্র দিনের আলো,
জানি, একদিন
দু চক্ষুরে দিয়েছিলে ঋণ।
ফিরায়ে নেবার দাবি জানায়েছ আজ
তুমি, মহারাজ।
শোধ করে দিতে হবে জানি,
তবু কেন সন্ধ্যাদীপে
ফেল ছায়াখানি।
রচিলে যে আলো দিয়ে তব বিশ্বতল
আমি সেথা অতিথি কেবল।
হেথা হোথা যদি পড়ে থাকে
কোনো ক্ষুদ্র ফাঁকে
নাই হল পুরা
সেটুকু টুকুরা--
রেখে যেয়ো ফেলে
অবহেলে,
যেথা তব রথ
শেষ চিহ্ন রেখে যায় অন্তিম ধুলায়
সেথায় রচিতে দাও আমার জগৎ।
অল্প কিছু আলো থাক্‌,
অল্প কিছু ছায়া
আর কিছু মায়া।
ছায়াপথে লুপ্ত আলোকের পিছু
হয়তো কুড়ায়ে পাবে কিছু--
কণামাত্র লেশ
তোমার ঋণের অবশেষ।