Shaishabshandha (Childhood’s Dusk) was published as a part of Tagore’s poetry collection called Sonar Tori (Golden Boat, 1894).
CHILDHOOD'S DUSK
Slowly, across all horizons
Spreads the weary exhaustion
Of darkness like a mother’s anchal*.
Standing alone, I gaze steadily
At the west, absolutely still.
I contemplate fixedly
The bottomless abyss,
The lonely riverside with a
Dusky sky. Dawn weeps,
As deep gloom sweeps
With tired eyes, compassionately,
Silently over the water and land
In this gloaming.
Suddenly, a song bursts forth
From the dark woods, the village paths,
Perhaps, from a youth returning home.
Uplifting, peaceful, fearless notes
Resonate in tune as if sharply
Slicing the twilight in two.
I cannot see him. I see a village
In the southern part. Amidst the lonely
Bamboo woods, the sugarcane fields,
The betel nut and banana trees,
There rests a village. I can see that.
Perhaps, it’s a cowherd’s son
Singing on his way home.
He does not think much
Except of a full stomach.
He brings back that dusk in my childhood:
We talked, played — three friends —
While we lay on the bed.
That was in the distant past.
Has the world not aged?
Have we exchanged our childhood,
Our games, our toys, our restful
slumber for the burden of knowledge?
Standing on this lonely field,
When silence fills the gloaming,
Hearing this song, I recall —
The riverbanks, the mango groves,
The brass bells ringing in temples,
The mustard fields, by the pond,
Smiling faces in many homes,
Young hearts filled with new hopes,
Impossible, beautiful imaginings,
Priceless dreams, endless desires
And beliefs. Standing in the dark,
I see among stars, the infinite universe —
Many young at home abed,
Their mother’s face lit by the lamp.
*Loose end of a sari
This poem has been translated from Bengali by Mitali Chakravarty with editorial input from Sohana Manzoor.
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