泰戈尔的母亲去世时，这位印度诗人还非常年轻。1922年，当他创作这首诗时，泰戈尔已经61岁了。一位花甲老人回忆自己的母亲，没有音容笑貌这样具体的画面记忆，留下的反而是歌声、气味、母亲的目光和爱意。

I Cannot Remember My Mother

仿佛

I cannot remember my mother

only sometimes in the midst of my play

a tune seems to hover over my playthings,

the tune of some song that she used to

hum while rocking my cradle.

我不记得我的母亲

只是在游戏中间

有时仿佛有一段歌调

在我玩具上回旋

是她在晃动我的摇篮

所哼的那些歌调

I cannot remember my mother

but when in the early autumn morning

the smell of the shiuli flowers floats in the air

the scent of the morning service in the temple

comes to me as the scent of my mother.

我不记得我的母亲

但是在初秋的早晨

合欢花香在空气中浮动

庙殿里晨祷的馨香

仿佛向我吹来母亲的气息

I cannot remember my mother

only when from my bedroom window I send

my eyes into the blue of the distant sky,

I feel that the stillness of

my mother's gaze on my face

has spread all over the sky.

我不记得我的母亲

只是当我从卧室的窗里

外望悠远的蓝天

我仿佛觉得

母亲凝住我的目光

布满了整个天空