Look to this day!
For it is life, the very life of life.
In its brief course lie all the verities
and the realities of your existence:
   The bliss of growth,
   The glory of action,
   The splendor of beauty;
For yesterday is but a dream,
And tomorrow is only a vision;
But today, well lived, makes every yesterday
A dream of happiness
And every tomorrow a vision of hope.
Look well, therefore, to this day.

Little is known about Kalidasa's life. According to legend, the poet was known for his beauty which brought him to the attention of a princess who married him. However, as legend has it, Kalidasa had grown up without much education, and the princess was ashamed of his ignorance and coarseness. A devoted worshipper of the goddess Kali (his name means literally Kali's slave), Kalidasa is said to have called upon his goddess for help and was rewarded with a sudden and extraordinary gift of wit. He is then said to have become the most brilliant of the "nine gems" at the court of the fabulous king Vikramaditya of Ujjain. Legend also has it that he was murdered by a courtesan in Sri Lanka during the reign of Kumaradasa.

Some online references:

http://www.imagi-nation.com/moonstruck/clsc60.html

http://www.cs.colostate.edu/~malaiya/kalidas.html

http://www.1upinfo.com/encyclopedia/K/Kalidasa.html