That was my birthday.
With my morning obeisance
I gazed at the horizon of the east
And contemplated freshly bathed Dawn
Anointing with sandalwood of light
The snow-white and tender
forehead of the snowy Summit.
I discovered on the throne of the Lord of Mountains
The very image
Of the great span at the heart of the universe.
From age to age in its supreme awe
The shadowy unknown it has been nurturing
In midst of a pathless forest,
Enwrapping the far-off distance piercing the sky
Under an impenetrable and inaccessible circuit
Of the rising and the setting sun.
On this birthday
The feeling of distant grew intimate in my heart.
Just as the way of the far off constellations
Remains shrouded in the mystery
Of the vaporous nebula,
I realised in a similar inacessibility
Mine own distance :
Pilgrim of an unobservable path,
and its destination unknown.
On this birthday
I heard the footfalls of the distant wayfarer
From the solitary shore.
[ janmadine, "On my Birthday", No. 1, 1941]
90. Parting, Premonition
Once again the festive day returns.
Branches in the poet's precinct
Filled trays of a new birthday
With countless greetings of spring.
I remain distant, closeted in my room :
This year I ignored the invitation of the palash 27woods.
I feel like singing out in basanta bahar 28
27 See Note 16
The dream of an imminent separation
darkens my spirit.
I know this birthday
Is going to turn into a less marvelous day,
Mingling in an unruffled span of Time.
The shadow of no flowery avenues
can enhance its nostalgia,
The smart of no memory can hum
at the depth of the forest,
A merciless joy will pipe the flute of this feast
Shoving away on the path the sorrow of separation.
[ janmadine, "On my Birthday", No. 4, 1941]