Ungrateful Sorrow

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(Translated from: "Ungrateful Sorrow (Grief)" by:

Rabindranath Thakur (Tagore), <br><br>At dawn shey(1) departed

<br>My mind tried to console me -<br>" Everything is

Maya(2)".<br>Angrily I replied:<br>"Here's this sewing box on the

table,<br>that flower-pot on the terrace,<br>this monogrammed

hand-fan on the bed---<br>all these are real."<br><br>My

mind said: "Yet, think again."<br>I rejoined: "You

better stop.<br>Look at this storybook,<br>the hairpin

halfway amongst its leaves,<br>signaling the rest is

unread;<br>if all these things are "Maya",<br>then why should

"shey" be more unreal?"<br><br>My mind becomes

silent.<br>A friend arrived and says:<br>"That which is good

is real<br>it is never non-existent;<br>entire world

preserves and cherishes it on its chest<br>like a precious

jewel in a necklace."<br><br>I replied in anger: "How

do you know?<br>Is a body not good? Where did that

body go?"<br><br>Like a small boy in a rage hitting

his mother,<br>I began to strike at everything in

this world<br>that gave me shelter.<br>And I screamed:

"The world is treacherous."<br><br>Suddenly, I was

startled.<br>It seemed like someone admonished me :"You-

ungrateful!"<br><br>I looked at the crescent moon<br>hidden behind the

tamarisk tree outside my window.<br>As if the dear

departed one is smiling<br>and playing hide-and-seek with

me.<br><br>From the depth of darkness punctuated by scattered

stars<br>came a rebuke: "when I let you grasp me you call it an

deception,<br>and yet when I remain concealed, why do you hold on

to your faith in me with such

conviction?"<br><br>(1): "Shey" in Bengali can mean either he or

she.<br>(2): "Maya" meaning Unreal,

illusion.<br><br><br><a href=http://www.indolink.com/Poetry/tagore14.html

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