The Rainy Day by Rabindranath Tagore
forest. O child, do not go out! The palm trees in a row by the lake are smiting their heads against the dismal sky; the crows with their dragged wings are silent on the tamarind branches, and the eastern bank of the river is haunted by a deepening gloom. Our cow is lowing loud, ties […]
The Lotus by Rabindranath Tagore
and I knew it not. My basket was empty and the flower remained unheeded. Only now and again a sadness fell upon me, and I started up from my dream and felt a sweet trace of a strange fragrance in the south wind. That vague sweetness made my heart ache with longing and it seemed […]
The Little Big Man by Rabindranath Tagore
as old as my father is. My teacher will come and say, “It is late, bring your slate and your books.” I shall tell him, ” Do you not know I am as big as father? And I must not have lessons any more.” My master will wonder and say, “He can leave his books […]
The Land of the Exile by Rabindranath Tagore
the time is. There is no fun in my play, so I have come to you. It is Saturday, our holiday. Leave off your work, mother; sit here by the window and tell me where the desert of Tepantar in the fairy tale is. The shadow of the rains has covered the day from end […]
The Judge by Rabindranath Tagore
I do not love him because he is good, but because he is my little child. How should you know how dear he can be when you try to weigh his merits against his faults? When I must punish him he becomes all the more a part of my being. When I cause his tears […]
The Journey by Rabindranath Tagore
and the flowers were all merry by the roadside; and the wealth of gold was scattered through the rift of the clouds while we busily went on our way and paid no heed. We sang no glad songs nor played; we went not to the village for barter; we spoke not a word nor smiled; […]
The Hero by Rabindranath Tagore
strange and dangerous country. You are riding in a palanquin and I am trotting by you on a red horse. It is evening and the sun goes down. The waste of Joradighi lies wan and grey before us. The land is desolate and barren. You are frightened and thinking-“I know not where we have come […]
The Gift by Rabindranath Tagore
stream of the world. Our lives will be carried apart, and our love forgotten. But I am not so foolish as to hope that I could buy your heart with my gifts. Young is your life, your path long, and you drink the love we bring you at one draught and turn and run away […]
The Gardener XXXVIII: My Love, Once upon a Time by Rabindranath Tagore
launched a great epic in his mind. Alas, I was not careful, and it struck your ringing anklets and came to grief. It broke up into scraps of songs and lay scattered at your feet. All my cargo of the stories of old wars was tossed by the laughing waves and soaked in tears and […]
The Gardener XXXIV: Do Not Go, My Love by Rabindranath Tagore
my leave. I have watched all night, and now my eyes are heavy with sleep. I fear lest I lose you when I’m sleeping. Do not go, my love, without asking my leave. I start up and stretch my hands to touch you. I ask myself, “Is it a dream?” Could I but entangle your […]
The Gardener XXVIII: Your Questioning Eyes by Rabindranath Tagore
seek to know my meaning as the moon would fathom the sea. I have bared my life before your eyes from end to end, with nothing hidden or held back. That is why you know me not. If it were only a gem, I could break it into a hundred pieces and string them into […]
The Gardener XXIV: Do Not Keep to Yourself by Rabindranath Tagore
your heart, my friend! Say it to me, only to me, in secret. You who smile so gently, softly whisper, my heart will hear it, not my ears. The night is deep, the house is silent, the birds’ nests are shrouded with sleep. Speak to me through hesitating tears, through faltering smiles, through sweet shame […]
The Gardener XXII: When She Passed by Me by Rabindranath Tagore
steps, the end of her skirt touched me. From the unknown island of a heart came a sudden warm breath of spring. A flutter of a flitting touch brushed me and vanished in a moment, like a torn flower petal blown in the breeze. It fell upon my heart like a sigh of her body […]
The Gardener XXI: Why Did He Choose by Rabindranath Tagore
door, the wandering youth, when the day dawned? As I come in and out I pass by him every time, and my eyes are caught by his face. I know not if I should speak to him or keep silent. Why did he choose to come to my door? The cloudy nights in July are […]
The Gardener XX: Day After Day He Comes by Rabindranath Tagore
away. Go, and give him a flower from my hair, my friend. If he asks who was it that sent it, I entreat you do not tell him my name– for he only comes and goes away. He sits on the dust under the tree. Spread there a seat with flowers and leaves, my friend. […]
The Gardener XVI: Hands Cling to Eyes by Rabindranath Tagore
on eyes: thus begins the record of our hearts. It is the moonlit night of March; the sweet smell of henna is in the air; my flute lies on the earth neglected and your garland of flowers is unfinished. This love between you and me is simple as a song. Your veil of the saffron […]
The Gardener XLVIII: Free Me by Rabindranath Tagore
sweetness, my love! Nor more of this wine of kisses. This mist of heavy incense stifles my heart. Open the doors, make room for the morning light. I am lost in you, wrapped in the folds of your caresses. Free me from your spells, and give me back the manhood to offer you my freed […]
The Gardener XLVI: You Left Me by Rabindranath Tagore
I thought I should mourn for you and set your solitary image in my heart wrought in a golden song. But ah, my evil fortune, time is short. Youth wanes year after year; the spring days are fugitive; the frail flowers die for nothing, and the wise man warns me that life is but a […]
The Gardener XLV: To the Guests by Rabindranath Tagore
God’s speed and brush away all traces of their steps. Take to your bosom with a smile what is easy and simple and near. To-day is the festival of phantoms that know not when they die. Let your laughter be but a meaning- less mirth like twinkles of light on the ripples. Let your life […]
The Gardener XLIV: Reverend Sir, Forgive by Rabindranath Tagore
sinners. Spring winds to-day are blowing in wild eddies, driving dust and dead leaves away, and with them your lessons are all lost. Do not say, father, that life is a vanity. For we have made truce with death for once, and only for a few fragrant hours we two have been made immortal. Even […]
The Gardener XLIII: No, My Friends by Rabindranath Tagore
ascetic, whatever you may say. I shall never be and ascetic if she does not take the vow with me. It is my firm resolve that if I cannot find a shady shelter and a companion for my penance, I shall never turn ascetic. No, my friends, I shall never leave my hearth and home, […]
The Gardener XLII: O Mad, Superbly Drunk by Rabindranath Tagore
If you kick open your doors and play the fool in public; If you empty your bag in a night, and snap your fingers at prudence; If you walk in curious paths and play with useless things; Reck not rhyme or reason; If unfurling your sails before the storm you snap the rudder in two, […]
The Gardener XL: An Unbelieving Smile by Rabindranath Tagore
eyes when I come to you to take my leave. I have done it so often that you think I will soon return. To tell you the truth I have the same doubt in my mind. For the spring days come again time after time; the full moon takes leave and comes on another visit, […]
The Gardener XIX: You Walked by Rabindranath Tagore
with the full pitcher upon your hip. Why did you swiftly turn your face and peep at me through your fluttering veil? That gleaming look from the dark came upon me like a breeze that sends a shiver through the rippling water and sweeps away to the shadowy shore. It came to me like the […]
The Gardener XIV: I Was Walking by the Road by Rabindranath Tagore
know why, when the noonday was past and bamboo branches rustled in the wind. The prone shadows with their out- stretched arms clung to the feet of the hurrying light. The koels were weary of their songs. I was walking by the road, I do not know why. The hut by the side of the […]
The Gardener XIII: I Asked Nothing by Rabindranath Tagore
edge of the wood behind the tree. Languor was still upon the eyes of the dawn, and the dew in the air. The lazy smell of the damp grass hung in the thin mist above the earth. Under the banyan tree you were milking the cow with your hands, tender and fresh as butter. And […]
The Gardener X: Let Your Work Be, Bride by Rabindranath Tagore
guest has come. Do you hear, he is gently shaking the chain which fastens the door? See that your anklets make no loud noise, and that your step is not over- hurried at meeting him. Let your work be, bride, the guest had come in the evening. No, it is not the ghostly wind, bride, […]
The Gardener LXXXIV: Over the Green by Rabindranath Tagore
sweep the shadows of the autumn clouds followed by the swift-chasing sun. The bees forget to sip their honey; drunken with light they foolishly hover and hum. The ducks in the islands of the river clamour in joy for mere nothing. Let none go back home, brothers, this morning, let none go to work. Let […]
The Gardener LXXXIII: She Dwelt on the Hillside by Rabindranath Tagore
of a maize-field, near the spring that flows in laughing rills through the solemn shadows of ancient trees. The women came there to fill their jars, and travellers would sit there to rest and talk. She worked and dreamed daily to the tune of the bubbling stream. One evening the stranger came down from the […]
The Gardener LXXXI: Why Do You Whisper So Faintly by Rabindranath Tagore
my ears, O Death, my Death? When the flowers droop in the evening and cattle come back to their stalls, you stealthily come to my side and speak words that I do not understand. Is this how you must woo and win me with the opiate of drowsy murmur and cold kisses, O Death, my […]
The Gardener LXXVI: The Fair Was On by Rabindranath Tagore
It had rained from the early morning and the day came to its end. Brighter than all the gladness of the crowd was the bright smile of a girl who bought for a farthing a whistle of palm leaf. The shrill joy of that whistle floated above all laughter and noise. An endless throng of […]
The Gardener LXXV: At Midnight by Rabindranath Tagore
announced: “This is the time to give up my home and seek for God. Ah, who has held me so long in delusion here?” God whispered, “I,” but the ears of the man were stopped. With a baby asleep at her breast lay his wife, peacefully sleeping on one side of the bed. The man […]
The Gardener LXVIII: None Lives For Ever, Brother by Rabindranath Tagore
nothing lasts for long. Keep that in mind and rejoice. Our life is not the one old burden, our path is not the one long journey. One sole poet has not to sing one aged song. The flower fades and dies; but he who wears the flower has not to mourn for it for ever. […]
The Gardener LXIX: I Hunt for the Golden Stag by Rabindranath Tagore
You may smile, my friends, but I pursue the vision that eludes me. I run across hills and dales, I wander through nameless lands, because I am hunting for the golden stag. You come and buy in the market and go back to your homes laden with goods, but the spell of the homeless winds […]
The Gardener LXIV: I Spent My Day by Rabindranath Tagore
hot dust of the road. Now, in the cool of the evening, I knock at the door of the inn. It is deserted and in ruins. A grim ashath tree spreads its hungry clutching roots through the gaping fissures of the walls. Days have been when wayfarers came here to wash their weary feet. They […]
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 Gardener LIX: O Woman by Rabindranath Tagore
handiwork of God, but also of men; these are ever endowing you with beauty from their hearts. Poets are weaving for you a web with threads of golden imagery; painters are giving your form ever new immortality. The sea gives its pearls, the mines their gold, the summer gardens their flowers to deck you, to […]
The Gardener LI: Then Finish the Last Song by Rabindranath Tagore
leave. Forget this night when the night is no more. Whom do I try to clasp in my arms? Dreams can never be made captive. My eager hands press emptiness to my heart and it bruises my breast. ————— The End And that’s the End of the Poem © Poetry Monster, 2021. Poems by topic and […]
The Gardener IX: When I Go Alone at Night by Rabindranath Tagore
love-tryst, birds do not sing, the wind does not stir, the houses on both sides of the street stand silent. 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 […]
The Gardener IV: Ah Me by Rabindranath Tagore
house by the road to the market town? They moor their laden boats near my trees. They come and go and wander at their will. I sit and watch them; my time wears on. Turn them away I cannot. And thus my days pass by. Night and day their steps sound by my door. Vainly […]