Poems  
Astronomy
Original in Bengali – Jyotish-Shastra by Rabindranath Tagore 
by Kumud Biswas

When in the evening the full moon gets caught up
Among the twigs of the Kadam tree
Can anyone catch it
And pick it up for me?
When I only asked this my brother laughed at me,
‘O boy! a more foolish fellow could there be?
How can one touch it
For it is so far away from the earth.’
I told him, ‘You know nothing,
When mum smiles at me from the window
Is she so far from me?’
Yet my brother tells me,
‘A more foolish fellow I am yet to see.
Also he tells me,
Where will you get a trap so big?’
I tell him, ‘It is so small
You don’t need any trap at all
Just clasp it in your palms, that’s all.’
‘Mum, why my brother calls me a fool
When he tells me, ‘If the moon came closer
You could see how big it is.
But I tell him, ‘What rubbish you study in school,
When mum comes closer to kiss me
Does she look so big?’
Yet my brother tells me
A more foolish fellow he is yet to see.  

January 15, 2006

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