Mother Earth
by Rabindranath Tagore

Today I stand before you
without illusion;
At your portals I do not seek
immortality
For the many days and nights
I have spent weaving you garlands.
But I have given true value
To my little place
in a tiny segment of the many eras
That fold and unfold in the millions of years
Of your travels around the sun;
If I have won from the trials
of life an iota of success,
Then mark my brow with a sign
made from your clay -
To be erased in the night
In which all symbols fade into
the final unknown.
O aloof, ruthless Earth,
Before I am utterly forgotten
Let me place my homage at your feet.