Immortal!

Ophelia and Hamlet,
Caesar and Cleopatra,
Othello and Desdemona,
Homer and Milton and Shakespeare
All are lying in their sepulchers,
Benumbed and forgotten.
Even Kalidasa and the sage Kanwa
Have passed into oblivion.
But Sakunthala still lives in the mind,
In the fathomless depth of human conscience
Alive as a sad idol of womanhood.
She still lives on the bank of Malini;
Pregnant, carrying the embryos
Of her sons in the womb.
In the sacrificial fire, she carries in her mind
Burns a thousand dreams, she pampered,
All through out her life for her future, as
The all knowing time is grinning and guffawing.

The Dushyanthas of this age still thrive,
Forgetting and evading such unsullied maidens;
And a thousand aspirations blow apart, in the torrent
Of tears which flows out of their eyes.
Still the Time grins and guffaws…