A Kaleidoscope World

When I shall not stroll along -- my old habitual way
Put a stop to rowing  my boat -- from this little quay
With sales and purchase all completed
Neither lender nor indebted 
I'll never visit this fair again on any scheduled day
You might as well not remember me then
Or look towards the stars and keep calling me in vain.

When fate decreed, the tanpura-strings begin to gather dust
Thorny creepers block all doors to climb up as they must  
Rank grass o'ertaken the flowerbed
Algae fringed lakes lie neglected 
You might as well not remember me then
Or look towards the stars and keep calling me in vain.

Flutes will charm then as now they do on life's vibrant stage 
Pass they will, the days will pass,
Like today the days then too shall all the world engage
Along the quays the ferryboats will keep on crowding as they do still --
On the fields the shepherds will play and their cattle too shall graze.
You might as well not remember me then
Or look towards the stars and keep calling me in vain.

But who'll claim that I too shan't be present on that morn
Each and every game that's played, I surely shall adorn 
By a fresh new name they'll grace -- and tie me in their arms' embrace
I'll come and go as I always did -- in my free willed way.
You might as well not remember me then
Or look towards the stars and keep calling me in vain.

English rendition, as opposed to translation, of a classic Bengali poem/song by Rabindranath Tagore. Tagore wrote this poem in the year 1915, when he was aged 54. He had earned the Nobel Prize in 1913. To the best of my knowledge, Tagore didn’t title the composition. He viewed it probably more as a song than a poem and didn’t need to add a title to it.