THE FATHER came back from the funeral rites.
        His boy of seven stood at the window, with eyes wide open and a golden amulet hanging from his neck, full of thoughts too difficult for his age.
        His father took him in his arms and the boy asked him, 'Where is mother?'
        In heaven,' answered his father, pointing to the sky.
At night the father groaned in slumber, weary with grief.
        A lamp dimly burned near the bedroom door, and a lizard chased moths on the wall.
        The boy woke up from sleep, felt with his hands the emptiness in the bed, and stole out to the open terrace.
        The boy raised his eyes to the sky and long gazed in silence. His bewildered mind sent abroad into the night the question, 'Where is heaven?'
No answer came: and the stars seemed like the burning tears of that ignorant darkness.

৩৯
নিভৃত প্রাণের নিবিড় ছায়ায় নীরব নীড়ের -'পরে
কথাহীন ব্যথা একা একা বাস করে॥  

WHO IS SHE who dwells in my heart, the woman forlorn for ever?
I wooed her and I failed to win her.
I decked her with wreaths and sang in her praise.
A smile shone in her face for a moment, then it faded.
'I have no joy in thee,' she cried, the woman in sorrow.
I bought her jewelled anklets and fanned her with a fan gem-studded; I made her a bed on a bedstead of gold.
There flickered a gleam of gladness in her eyes, then it died.
'I have no joy in these,' she cried, the woman in sorrow.
I seated her upon a car of triumph and drove her from end to end of the earth.
Conquered hearts bowed down at her feet, and shouts of applause rang in the sky.
Pride shone in her eyes for a moment, then it was dimmed in tears.
'I have no joy in conquest,' she cried, the woman in sorrow.
I asked her, 'Tell me whom do you seek?'
She only said, 'I wait for him of the unknown name.'
Days pass by and she cries, 'When will my beloved come whom I know not, and be known to me for ever?'