When I was young
In my crowded feasts
Guests came many
Some were invited some were not
I never bothered to reckon
Now I remember hardly any
Whom I offered a seat
Just for a moment
Or who left next moment.
I knew someone gave me a garland
But I did not care to know
Exactly who it was.
Thus what happened
Had hardly any order or sequence
Sometimes someone came
Sometimes someone left
I momentarily touched them all
Whenever it was needed
But was sucked away by a current of crowd.
That crowded mid-day of my life is over
Now I have lighted my evening lamp
Now in my lonely room
I see him whom I could never see from close
In the crowds of many
Now I talk to him and touch him too
In an intangible way.
Translation of the poem Abasheshe from the collection Sanai by Rabindranath Tagore. The original in Bengali script may be viewed at
