Children Play on the Seashores of the World

from the Gitanjali, by Rabindranath Tagore

On the seashore of endless worlds children meet.  The infinite

sky is motionless overhead and the restless water is boisterous.

On the seashore of endless worlds the children meet with shouts

and dances.

They build their houses with sand and they play with empty

shells.  With withered leaves they weave their boats and

smilingly float them on the vast deep.  Children have their play

on the seashore of worlds.

They know not how to swim, they know not how to cast nets.  Pearl

fishers dive for pearls, merchants sail in their ships, while

children gather pebbles and scatter them again.  They seek not

for hidden treasures, they know not how to cast nets.

The sea surges up with laughter and pale gleams the smile of the

sea beach.  Death-dealing waves sing meaningless ballads to the

children, even like a mother while rocking her baby's cradle.

The sea plays with children, and pale gleams the smile of the sea

beach.

On the seashore of endless worlds children meet.  Tempest roams

in the pathless sky, ships get wrecked in the trackless water,

death is abroad and children play.  On the seashore of endless

worlds is the great meeting of children.