The day was when I did not keep myself in readiness for thee; andentering my heart unbidden even as one of the common crowd, unknown tome, my king, thou didst press the signet of eternity upon many afleeting moment of my life. And today when by chance I light upon them and see thy signature, Ifind they have lain scattered in the dust mixed with the memory of joysand sorrows of my trivial days forgotten. Thou didst not turn in contempt from my childish play among dust, andthe steps that I heard in my playroom are the same that are echoingfrom star to star.

The work and its creator

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Creator: Rabindranath Tagore
Nationality / cultural background: Indian · Bengali
Work / edition: 1912

Translation: Rabindranath Tagore · English

Historical public-domain text. Selected passage; line-end whitespace normalised. No generated quotation.

In the source: 43

Selected for the Brief on 9 Sep 2026. This date records our selection, rather than when the work was created.