I Have Turned My Back On Ambition Poem by Debtoru Chatterjee

I have turned my back on Ambition
And pine not for glories past
The carcades, tunics, buttoned prince-coats
Count me no longer in their caste.

I never had lust for gold and wealth
But a weakness for the pomp of state
To stand in serried official rank
Was for me the high hall-mark of fate.

A duty that instant access fetched
Of ministers, officials high
A factotum whose notes were keenly read
Whose instructions few could defy!

A part of the highest retinue
Commanding the attention of all
Who mattered, a lonely expert on whose view
Potentiaries would take their call.

All that is now with the wind begone
Insignificance, slight, jeers at every step
A humble compass dusts my desk
‘Insignificant' official preoccupations since morn.

Yet happily the common-place I tread
Carefully policing the doings of greed
Honest-willed I earn my bread
With the motto of Truth as my creed! -