You're A Poor Farmer!
Ramprasad Sen

You're a poor farmer, mind of mine!
You've let the precious field of human life
sit fallow too long.
If only you had planted right
a golden crop would be yours by now!
If you had fenced it around
with the name of Ma Kali,
no one could ever seize it from you.
Even the God of Death couldn't smash
the stout barrier of the wild-haired Goddess.
Don't you know it could be confiscated
from under your feet this very moment
or a hundred years hence?
Mind, the ownership rights are still yours -
whisk away the harvest this minute!
The Guru planted the seeds,
but the rain of your devotion
must irrigate the fields.