Classic Poem

I have seen many sprawling meadows,
Many deserts, fields, forests and crowded cities.
Many strange lands have I seen. Sometimes
I have seen savage darkness swallowing up this world of ours
Like that huge sea fish devouring the tired prophet Jonah.
Sometimes again I have seen the moving sun,
Bright and glorious, emerging from the prison of night
Like the freed prophet Joseph coming out of the dark well of death.
I have seen the sea bubbling with life, stretching from horizon to horizon,
And mountains, standing erect, like the rocky spine of the true believer.
I have known all and witnessed the rise and fall
Of nations or crowds of men. I have seen
God's vast creation. Many hours have I spent
In the company of the wise in many lands,
And in the association of meditating saints.
But still I find my thirst unquenched.
Incomplete, unfulfilled, my heart seeks the fullness of life
In the midst of the wide wide world among countless men.

[Translated by Kabir Chowdhury]