This world is full of evils -
When you blame thus
When you declare this aloud
Then I understand
The heat of your anger
Is born of your wounded ego.
Who doesn't know
There is an eternal conflict
Between good and evil
It is in the very heart of things.
Had it not been so
Could there be a victory of the best?
When you suffer some loss
Don't accuse your creator
You should know
Whatever is dear
Whatever is heavenly and eternal
We buy at the cost of death.
Any threat of destruction
Is a call to the creative man.
Whatever is best
Rests at the end of your pilgrimage
Very difficult of access
And it urges the intrepid explorer.
I deem myself fortunate
I was born in a world
Which is not blemishless.
Snapping threads and weaving knots
Sorrow, shame and fear
Often set at naught our efforts at harmonies
When I have found these defects
Didn't I also see the oppressed
Forever and in every age
Crying, keeping alive
And inspiring protests?
I salute the risings of those
Who are trodden down
They are sleepless,
They march ahead through the darkness of night
They come in different names
Armed with ever new weapons
Always victorious
Over obstructions and indignities
And defying death
They are the pilgrims through the apocalypse
I welcome them all from the core of my heart.
Translation of the poem Birodh from the collection Bithika by Rabindranath Tagore. The original poem is here
