Closed Path by Rabindranath Tagore
at the last limit of my power,—that the path before me was closed, that provisions were exhausted and the time come to take shelter in a silent obscurity. But I find that thy will knows no end in me. And when old words die out on the tongue, new melodies break forth from the heart; […]
Chain Of Pearls by Rabindranath Tagore
with my tears of sorrow. The stars have wrought their anklets of light to deck thy feet, but mine will hang upon thy breast. Wealth and fame come from thee and it is for thee to give or to withhold them. But this my sorrow is absolutely mine own, and when I bring it to […]
Brink Of Eternity by Rabindranath Tagore
in all the corners of my room; I find her not. My house is small and what once has gone from it can never be regained. But infinite is thy mansion, my lord, and seeking her I have to come to thy door. I stand under the golden canopy of thine evening sky and I […]
Beggarly Heart by Rabindranath Tagore
come upon me with a shower of mercy. When grace is lost from life, come with a burst of song. When tumultuous work raises its din on all sides shutting me out from beyond, come to me, my lord of silence, with thy peace and rest. When my beggarly heart sits crouched, shut up in […]
Baby’s World by Rabindranath Tagore
own world. I know it has stars that talk to him, and a sky that stoops down to his face to amuse him with its silly clouds and rainbows. Those who make believe to be dumb, and look as if they never could move, come creeping to his window with their stories and with trays […]
Authorship by Rabindranath Tagore
understand. He was reading to you all the evening, but could you really make out what he meant? What nice stores, mother, you can tell us! Why can’t father write like that, I wonder? Did he never hear from his own mother stories of giants and fairies and princesses? Has he forgotten them all? Often […]
A Moments Indulgence by Rabindranath Tagore
that I have in hand I will finish afterwards. Away from the sight of thy face my heart knows no rest nor respite, and my work becomes an endless toil in a shoreless sea of toil. Today the summer has come at my window with its sighs and murmurs; and the bees are plying their […]
Who Is This? by Rabindranath Tagore
But who is this that follows me in the silent dark? I move aside to avoid his presence but I escape him not. He makes the dust rise from the earth with his swagger; he adds his loud voice to every word that I utter. He is my own little self, my lord, he knows […]
Where The Mind Is Without Fear by Rabindranath Tagore
Where knowledge is free Where the world has not been broken up into fragments By narrow domestic walls Where words come out from the depth of truth Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit Where […]
When The Two Sisters Go To Fetch Water by Rabindranath Tagore
They must be aware of somebody who stands behind the trees whenever they go to fetch water. The two sisters whisper to each other when they pass this spot. They must have guessed the secret of that somebody who stands behind the trees whenever they go to fetch water. Their pitchers lurch suddenly, and water […]
When I Go Alone At Night by Rabindranath Tagore
It is my own anklets that grow loud at every step and I am ashamed. When I sit on my balcony and listen for his footsteps, leaves do not rustle on the trees, and the water is still in the river like the sword on the knees of a sentry fallen asleep. It is my […]
When I Go Alone At Night by Rabindranath Tagore
It is my own anklets that grow loud at every step and I am ashamed. When I sit on my balcony and listen for his footsteps, leaves do not rustle on the trees, and the water is still in the river like the sword on the knees of a sentry fallen asleep. It is my […]
Waiting by Rabindranath Tagore
remains unsung to this day. I have spent my days in stringing and in unstringing my instrument. The time has not come true, the words have not been rightly set; only there is the agony of wishing in my heart….. I have not seen his face, nor have I listened to his voice; only I […]
Tumi Sandhyar Meghamala – You Are A Cluster Of Clouds – Translation by Rabindranath Tagore
I have sought only you all my life It is you who fills my empty sky I have made you with the sweet fancies of my mind You are mine, you are mine O you wanderer of my boundless sky. With the blood of my heart I have beautified your feet My evening dreams are […]
This Dog by Rabindranath Tagore
প্রত্যহ প্রভাতকালে ভক্ত এ কুকুর স্তব্ধ হয়ে বসে থাকে আসনের কাছে যতক্ষণে সঙ্গ তার না করি স্বীকার করস্পর্শ দিয়ে । এটুকু স্বীকৃতি লাভ করি সর্বাঙ্গে তরঙ্গি উঠে আনন্দপ্রবাহ । বাক্যহীন প্রাণীলোক-মাঝে এই জীব শুধু ভালো মন্দ সব ভেদ করি দেখেছে সম্পূর্ণ মানুষেরে ; দেখেছে আনন্দে যারে প্রাণ দেওয়া যায় যারে ঢেলে দেওয়া যায় অহেতুক প্রেম […]
The Tame Bird Was In A Cage by Rabindranath Tagore
They met when the time came, it was a decree of fate. The free bird cries, “O my love, let us fly to the wood.” The cage bird whispers, “Come hither, let us both live in the cage.” Says the free bird, “Among bars, where is there room to spread one’s wings?” “Alas,” cries the […]
The Sun Of The First Day by Rabindranath Tagore
Put the question To the new manifestation of life- Who are you? There was no answer. Years passed by. The last sun of the last day Uttered the question on the shore of the western sea In the hush of evening- Who are you? No answer came again. ————— The End And that’s the End […]
The Portrait — English Translation by Rabindranath Tagore
Drawn on a canvas? Those distant galaxies Which crowd the skies And travel day and night Through darkness with their candles The planets, the sun and the stars Aren’t you real like them O you portrait Are you a mere portrait? Here everything moves In its midst Why do you stand still? Join those who […]
The Merchant by Rabindranath Tagore
into strange lands. Imagine that my boat is ready at the landing fully laden. Now think well, mother, before you say what I shall bring for you when I come back. Mother, do you want heaps and heaps of gold? There, by the banks of golden streams, fields are full of golden harvest. And in […]
The Lost Star — English Translation by Rabindranath Tagore
In the vast blue sky All the stars began to shine. In the milky way With this new world in their front All the gods sat in rows and began to sing, ‘O what joy! What perfection! A great piece of music, in perfect rhythm – These planets, this moon and this sun!’ But someone […]
The Last Bargain by Rabindranath Tagore
Sword in hand, the King came in his chariot. He held my hand and said, “I will hire you with my power.” But his power counted for nought, and he went away in his chariot. In the heat of the midday the houses stood with shut doors. I wandered along the crooked lane. An old […]
The Home by Rabindranath Tagore
hiding its last gold like a miser. The daylight sank deeper and deeper into the darkness, and the widowed land, whose harvest had been reaped, lay silent. Suddenly a boy’s shrill voice rose into the sky. He traversed the dark unseen, leaving the track of his song across the hush of the evening. His village […]
The Golden Boat by Rabindranath Tagore
I sit on the river bank, sad and alone. The sheaves lie gathered, harvest has ended, The river is swollen and fierce in its flow. As we cut the paddy it started to rain. One small paddy-field, no one but me – Flood-waters twisting and swirling everywhere. Trees on the far bank; smear shadows like […]
The Gardener XXVI: What Comes From Your Willing Hands by Rabindranath Tagore
hands I take. I beg for nothing more.” “Yes, yes, I know you, modest mendicant, you ask for all that one has.” “If there be a stray flower for me I will wear it in my heart.” “But if there be thorns?” “I will endure them.” “Yes, yes, I know you, modest mendicant, you ask […]
The Gardener XI: Come As You Are by Rabindranath Tagore
your toilet. If your braided hair has loosened if the parting of your hair be not straight, if the ribbons of your bodice be not fastened, do not mind. Come as you are; do not loiter over your toilet. Come, with quick steps over the grass. If the raddle come from your feet because of […]
The Gardener LXXIX: I Often Wonder by Rabindranath Tagore
the boundaries of recognition between man and the beast whose heart knows no spoken language. Through what primal paradise in a remote morning of creation ran the simple path by which their hearts visited each other. Those marks of their constant tread have not been effaced though their kinship has been long forgotten. Yet suddenly […]
The Gardener LVII: I Plucked Your Flower by Rabindranath Tagore
I pressed it to my heart and the thorn pricked. When the day waned and it darkened, I found that the flower had faded, but the pain remained. More flowers will come to you with perfume and pride, O world! But my time for flower-gathering is over, and through the dark night I have not […]
The Gardener LV: It Was Mid-Day by Rabindranath Tagore
away . The sun was strong in the sky. I had done my work and sat alone on my balcony when you went away. Fitful gusts came winnowing through the smells of may distant fields. The doves cooed tireless in the shade, and a bee strayed in my room hum- ming the news of many […]
The Call Of The Far — English Translation by Rabindranath Tagore
I am athirst for the far. My time passes by And in an absent mind I keep waiting at my window Hoping and hoping you will come. O how my entire being Is eager for your intimate touch! O you far, O you boundless far So irresistible is the call of your flute But I […]
The Beginning by Rabindranath Tagore
its mother. She answered, half crying, half laughing, and clasping the baby to her breast- “You were hidden in my heart as its desire, my darling. You were in the dolls of my childhood’s games; and when with clay I made the image of my god every morning, I made the unmade you then. You […]
Poems On Time by Rabindranath Tagore
and has time enough. ~ Time is a wealth of change, but the clock in its parody makes it mere change and no wealth. ~ Let your life lightly dance on the edges of Time like dew on the tip of a leaf. ————— The End And that’s the End of the Poem © Poetry Monster, […]
Poems On Man by Rabindranath Tagore
to drown his own clamour of silence. ~ Man is immortal; therefore he must die endlessly. For life is a creative idea; it can only find itself in changing forms. ~ Man’s abiding happiness is not in getting anything but in giving himself up to what is greater than himself, to ideas which are larger […]
Poems On Beauty by Rabindranath Tagore
when she beholds her own face in a perfect mirror. ~ Beauty is in the ideal of perfect harmony which is in the universal being; truth the perfect comprehension of the universal mind. ————— The End And that’s the End of the Poem © Poetry Monster, 2021. Poems by topic and subject. Poetry Monster — the […]
My Friend, Come In These Rains — English Translation by Rabindranath Tagore
Evading all Like silent night In stealthy steps you have come. The morning has closed its eyes The wind is hopelessly sighing And the blue naked sky Is overcast with endless clouds In the woodland the birds do not sing In every home the doors are closed You are a lonely wayfarer on a lonely […]
In The Dusky Path Of A Dream by Rabindranath Tagore
Her house stood at the end of a desolate street. In the evening breeze her pet peacock sat drowsing on its perch, and the pigeons were silent in their corner. She set her lamp down by the portal and stood before me. She raised her large eyes to my face and mutely asked, “Are you […]
Gift Of The Great – English Translation by Rabindranath Tagore
Those whose minds are wrought The base of whose existence becomes shaky Those who are listless Let them listen – Don’t ever forget yourselves. Let you meet every day Those who have won over death Those who have kept their torch aflame Above whatever is mean and small If you make them dwarf The sin […]
From Afar by Rabindranath Tagore
From a distance I watch him. With the dust and the water, With the fruit and the flower, With the All he is rushing forward. He is always on the surface, Tossed by the waves and dancing to the rhythm Of joy and suffering. The least loss makes him suffer, The least wound hurts him– […]
Dream Girl by Rabindranath Tagore
You are also the creation of men From the core of their heart They have endowed you with charm. With golden threads of similes Your dress the poet weaves. To immortalize your image The painter puts on your face An ever fresh glow. So many colours, scents and costumes – From the seas come pearls […]
At The Last Watch by Rabindranath Tagore
That pettiest of gifts, Is but a sugar-coating over neglect. Any passerby can make a gift of it To a street beggar, Only to forget the moment the first corner is turned. I had not hoped for anything more that day. You left during the last watch of night. I had hoped you would say […]
At The End Of The Day by Rabindranath Tagore
At the end of the day Wanly smiling The dying sun will look at my face Bidding me its last farewell. The flute will play by the side of the way The cattle will graze on the banks of the river In the courtyard the children will play And the birds will sing – Still […]