BLESSINGS HAVE I won in this life
of the Beautiful.
In the vessel of man's affection I taste His own divine nectar.
Sorrow, hard to bear,
has shown me the unhurt, unconquered soul.
On the day when I felt death's impending shadow,
fear's defeat has not been mine.
The great ones of the Earth
have not deprived me of their touch,
their undying words have I stored in my heart.
Grace I had from the god of life:
this memory let me leave
in grateful words.

প্রেমে প্রাণে গানে গন্ধে আলোকে পুলকে
প্লাবিত করিয়া নিখিল দ্যুলোক-ভূলোকে
              তোমার অমল অমৃত পড়িছে ঝরিয়া।
                     দিকে দিকে আজি টুটিয়া সকল বন্ধ
                     মুরতি ধরিয়া জাগিয়া ওঠে আনন্দ;
                           জীবন উঠিল নিবিড় সুধায় ভরিয়া।
চেতনা আমার কল্যাণ-রস-সরসে
শতদল-সম ফুটিল পরম হরষে
              সব মধু তার চরণে তোমার ধরিয়া।
                     নীরব আলোকে জাগিল হৃদয়প্রান্তে
                     উদার উষার উদয়-অরুণ কান্তি,
                           অলস আঁখির আবরণ গেল সরিয়া।

(From the Bengali of Satyendranath Datta)
MY FLOWERS were like milk and honey and wine; I bound them into a posy with a golden ribbon, but they escaped my watchful care and fled away and only the ribbon remains.
My songs were like milk and honey and wine, they were held in the rhythm of my beating heart, but they spread their wings and fled away, the darlings of the idle hours, and my heart beats in silence.
The beauty I loved was like milk and honey and wine, her lips like the rose of the dawn, her eyes bee-black. I kept my heart silent lest it should startle her, but she eluded me like my flowers and like my songs, and my love remains alone.