WHEN RESTIVE I REST

WHEN RESTIVE I REST

When I am dead and gone, 

There will yet be dusk,

There will yet be dawn.

But the new morn

Shall of a leaf shorn

Be whole and wholesome though.

The tree of Life

Will bloom its blossoms

Fragrant fair

Though I be not there

In form, worn and old.

The sun will shine,

New lovers embrace 

And say, "I am thine,"

Till they pass too 

Unto the morrow 

That in shades of sorrow 

Beckon a birth afresh 

Of youth and vigour,

Life and joy.

So must I move on

Through the vale of death 

And the vale of life

That must follow in its wake

Till wide awake

I'll sleep no more.

Right now

In the mist of life,

In the din and strife,

In this fool's paradise

Must I labour alive

And gather honey

Till my beehive

In a deathly strike

Doth break to free

My captive soul

That must wear a form

Ever and ever

Till shorn of all,

Of the big and small,

Of the tiny, tall,

I'll rest in peace

Shorn of work

In a last release

That'll know no end

Nor turn nor bend

But shall bide in rest

In conscious crest 

That knows no fall

Unto an earthly dawn.

To such a flight

This song of love

I send tonight 

In a final call,

To such a light

That shines within

And beckons me

To quit it all.

Composed by Sugata Bose