Clinging To Your Feet
Dvijendralal Ray

I lie clinging to your feet,
but you never look at me, Mother.
You're lost in your own play,
and engrossed in your own emotion.
What is this sport you revel in
across earth, heaven and the underworld?
The entire universe closes its eyes in terror,
and calls out "Mother, Mother!"
while clutching at your feet.
In your hands, Kali, you hold
the world's final destruction.
Under your feet
even the great Shiva
lies unconscious.
Wild laughter issues from your mouth
and streams of blood flow down your limbs.
Tara*, forgiving one, end our fear!

Pick me up like a baby in your arms.
Come shining like a star,
with a smiling face
and in fair dress, like the dawn
after a pitch-black night!
All these days, O Terrible Kali,
I've worshiped only you.
My puja is done, Mother.
Won't you put down your sword?

*The word for star in Bengali is also "tara."