You are only a poet today
Where is the place where you were born?
Where is the royal court you once adorned?
Gone is the capital Ujjaini
Gone is your patron king
All have left without leaving any trace.
Today it seems
Living in eternal joy
You are the denizen of an eternal heaven.
In the evening, on the Himalayan peak,
Waking up from his meditation
When in heavenly joy
Lord Shiva would dance
The clouds would rumble like drums
Keeping the beats lightning would play
And you would sing his paean
Goddess Gouri being pleased
In loving grace
Would present you her earring.
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Transcreation of the sonnet Kalidaser prati from the collection Chaitali (The Summer Harvest) by Rabindranath Tagore. Kalidasa, the greatest Indian classical poet, was one of the nine gems in the court of the legendary king Vikramaditya who had his capital at Ujjaini. The poet was a devotee of Lord Shiva, the governing deity of the arts of drama and dancing, also known as Nataraj or the king-dancer. Among all the poets, both Indian and non-Indian, he perhaps exercised the deepest influence on Rabindranath who paid him tributes in innumerable poems and other writings. The original in Bengali script is at http://www.rabindra-rachanabali.nltr.org/node/10531.
