'Abode of the God' (Translated by Ayana Dasgupta)

"Your Highness!" the knave humbly says

The saint left your golden shrine

And took shelter under the shady pine

His vesper call has gathered devotees from far

As if enchanted by the lotus fragrance leaving the honey-filled jar

Walked past the shrine all, to quench the thirst

To the saint who poured out all love and trust

Ah! Lifeless stays God on the golden throne

In the vacant temple of gems alone

The king rushed to the saint to ask him just

What made u leave the temple and choose the dust?

"There's no God in the temple " uttered the saint

With the firmest conviction feeling no faint

"No God" uproars the king with a startled mind

"You atheist monks, in the gem-studded shrine God you don’t find?"

"Twenty million guinea the temple cost

Towering the sky it stands aloft

How do you think God is lost?"

"The temple isn't empty", says the saint

"Filled with royal pride and taint"

"The year the fire devoured people's home

The hungry hapless on roads had to roam

King gave no ear to their life's gloam

Just to build this opulent dome?"

"That very day the God left your dome

What a meagre abode can u offer Him

Where love, truth, faith, and peace are very dim?

Gold and pride bubble the dome

In the vast ocean like the empty foam"

"Fie upon you" the King roared

Leave my kingdom and elsewhere board

Said the saint "Where you exiled the God

Let the devotees stride that lovely ford

For God's abode is the heart of the poor

Not in the golden shrine for sure.