शिशुदृष्टिः
मातः कथयसि लिखति ग्रन्थान् पिता बहूनिति परं तु मे
।
तेषु किमपि नावगतं भवति कथय किमिदमित्थंस्यात् ॥ १
॥
सायं तुभ्यं यत्श्रावयति तदवगच्छसि किं वद मातः ।
कथयस्यद्भुतकथास्त्वमेवं न रचयति पिता कुतः ॥ २ ॥
कच्चित्तस्याम्बायाः तेन न कथाः श्रुता नु सुविस्मृता
नु ।
दानवपिशाचविद्याधरनृपपुत्रीणां सुमधुराः ॥ ३ ॥
यदि विस्मरति स्नानं तदा त्वमाह्वयसि हि वारंवारम्
।
सोष्णाशनाय तथापि विस्मरति लिखन्नेवास्ते च ।। ४ ॥
यदि प्रविशामि तस्यागारं क्रीडार्थं त्वं विगर्हसे
।
स्तोकरवमपि न सहसे वदसि पिता कार्यमग्न इति च ॥ ५
॥
विन्दति लेखं लेखं किं यदि लिखामि कखगघ तर्जसि माम्
।
पिता लिखति यदि तदा नु किमपि न वदसि कुतः कथय माम्
॥ ६ ॥
यदि पत्रे एकस्मिन् रचये खेलकमुडुपं विगर्हसे त्वम्
।
जनके पत्रेषु लिखति तूष्णीं वर्तसे तु किमर्थम् ॥
७ ॥
The above is a rough rendering in Sanskrit of
an English translation of Rabindranath Tagore’s poem in Bengali.
“Authorship
You say that father writes a lot of books, but
what he writes I don't
understand.
He was reading to you all the evening, but
could you really
make out what he meant?
What nice stores, mother, you can tell us! Why
can't father
write like that, I wonder?
Did he never hear from his own mother stories of
giants and
fairies and princesses?
Has he forgotten them all?
Often when he gets late for his bath you have to
and call him
an hundred times.
You wait and keep his dishes warm for him, but
he goes on
writing and forgets.
Father always plays at making books.
If ever I go to play in father's room, you come
and call me,
"What a naughty child!"
If I make the slightest noise you say,
"Don't you see that
father's at his work?"
What's the fun of always writing and writing?
When I take up father's pen or pencil and write
upon his book
just as he does,-a,b,c,d,e,f,g,h,i,-why do you
get cross with me
then, mother?
You never say a word when father writes.
When my father wastes such heaps of paper,
mother, you don't
seem to mind at all.
But if I take only one sheet to take a boat
with, you say,
"Child, how troublesome you are!"
What do you think of father's spoiling sheets
and sheets of
paper with black marks all over both sides? “
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