The Lost Star -- English Translation

Rabindranath Tagore

When God finished his work of creation
In the vast blue sky
All the stars began to shine.
In the milky way
With this new world in their front
All the gods sat in rows and began to sing,
'O what joy! What perfection!
A great piece of music, in perfect rhythm -
These planets, this moon and this sun!'
But someone from the assembly
Suddenly told,
'From this string of lights
A star seems to have fallen down!'
The strings of the lyre snapped
And the music came to a stop,
A quest began to find out
Where the lost star had gone.
Everybody said,
'It was the star which brightened the heavens most
It was the biggest and the best.'
From then on has been going on
This quest for this star which has been lost
Day and night there is no rest.
Everybody says,
'Among all the stars
We have got to find out
This particular star.
Without it the entire world has become dark.'
But in the dead of night the silent stars
Smiling silently say among themselves,
'This search is useless
For all the stars are there!'





Last updated January 14, 2019