And thought the bloom of life
Hanging on to death,
While the seeds of death return
To blood, bone and breath.
A DREAM OF BIRTH
When I was born the spirits of the outer world
gathered together on the top of Mount Tom.
And one of them was a banker, dressed
in the uniform of his trade,
a black cutaway coat and gray trousers,
and a gray stock with a pearl riding
it,
and a high collar, and a high silk hat;
and he said, I will give this child entry
into the quiet halls of my many mansions;
and he can sit on the banks of my rivers,
the rivers of gold and silver and rustling green
that flow so softly among the marble columns,
slipping over the little wicket sluices,
and into them he can dip his buckets of credit,
Buddhadeva Bose
and slake his thirst for all the good things of the world.
And another was a merchant, sturdily built,
in a suit of good stout cloth of moderate check,
and under one arm was a ship, and under the other
a truck and a railroad train;
and he said, I will give this child
the riches of the earth from far countries,
brought to him over the sea, and over the land:
wheat and meat from the western plains,
bananas and sugar cane, rum and molasses,
and ginger and spice from Caribbean islands,
coffee from Brazil, and cocoa from Africa,
tobacco from Turkey, and wines from France;
and I will see to it that he has an abundance
of everything that he wants and doesn't want
