Lallji My Desire

“This is no time for saying ‘no'”

Were thy last words to me,

And yet my lips refused the kiss

They might have given thee.

How could I know

That thou wouldst go

To sleep so far from me?

They took thee to the Burning-Ghat,

Oh, Lallji, my desire,

And now a faint and lonely flame

Uprises from the pyre.

The thin grey smoke in spirals drifts

Across the opal sky.

Would that I were a wife of thine,

And thus with thee could die!

How could I know

That thou wouldst go,

Oh, Lallji, my desire?

The lips I missed

The flames have kissed

Upon the Sandal pyre.

If one should meet me with a knife

And cut my heart in twain,

Then would he see the smoke arise

From every severed vein.

Such is the burning, inward fire,

The anguish of my pain,

For my Beloved, whose dying lips

Implored a kiss–in vain!

How could I know

That thou wouldst go,

Oh, Lallji, my desire?

Too young thou art

To lay thy heart

Upon the Sandal pyre.

Thy wife awaits her coming child;

What were a child to me,

If I might take thee in these arms

And face the flames with thee?

The priests are chanting round the pyre,

At dusk they will depart

And leave to thee thy lonely rest,

To me my lonelier heart.

How could I know

Thou lovedst me so?

Upon the Sandal pyre

He lies forsaken.

The flames have taken

My Lallji, my desire!

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Poems in English 

• The Tame Bird Was In A Cage by Rabindranath Tagore by Rabindranath Tagore
• The Sun Of The First Day by Rabindranath Tagore by Rabindranath Tagore
• The Portrait — English Translation by Rabindranath Tagore by Rabindranath Tagore
• The Music Of The Rains – English Translation by Rabindranath Tagore by Rabindranath Tagore
• The Merchant by Rabindranath Tagore by Rabindranath Tagore
• The Lost Star — English Translation by Rabindranath Tagore by Rabindranath Tagore
• The Last Bargain by Rabindranath Tagore by Rabindranath Tagore
• The Kiss by Rabindranath Tagore by Rabindranath Tagore
• The Kiss — English Translation by Rabindranath Tagore by Rabindranath Tagore
• The Home by Rabindranath Tagore by Rabindranath Tagore
• The Hero — English Translation by Rabindranath Tagore by Rabindranath Tagore
• The Golden Boat by Rabindranath Tagore by Rabindranath Tagore
• The Gardener XXVII: Trust Love by Rabindranath Tagore by Rabindranath Tagore
• The Gardener XXVI: What Comes From Your Willing Hands by Rabindranath Tagore by Rabindranath Tagore
• The Gardener XXIX: Speak To Me My Love by Rabindranath Tagore by Rabindranath Tagore
• The Gardener XI: Come As You Are by Rabindranath Tagore by Rabindranath Tagore
• The Gardener LXXIX: I Often Wonder by Rabindranath Tagore by Rabindranath Tagore
• The Gardener LVII: I Plucked Your Flower by Rabindranath Tagore by Rabindranath Tagore
• The Gardener LV: It Was Mid-Day by Rabindranath Tagore by Rabindranath Tagore
• The Call Of The Far — English Translation by Rabindranath Tagore by Rabindranath Tagore

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