Duto Dukher Kotha Koi
1. Let me confide a sad word or two
1.1.
Let me confide a sad word or two.
Sad suffering thoughts, O Tara, speak I from my heart.
Who says you are, Tara, to the wretched most compassionate?
Some you shower with treasures, Ma,
who ride chariots to victories sweet;
Others fated to labour and toil
for daily rations hardly meet.
Some are in lofty palace homed,
where I too desire to dwell;
O Ma, are this lot the lords of all your kin -
do I (mere nothing) count as well?
Some bodies robed in double shawls,
eat sugared rice and grain;
Some leisurely go in palanquins,
I carry the burden in pain.
Did I ever rake and spoil, O Ma,
your near-ripe harvest gain?
Says Prasad, Forgetting you,
I bear such burning heat;
O Ma, I wish to be the merest dust
of your fear-quelling feet.