Only now and again a sadness fell upon me, and I started up from my dream and felt a sweet trace of a strange smell in the south wind. That vague fragrance made my heart ache with longing, and it seemed to me that it was the eager breath of the summer seeking for its… Continue reading Rabindranath Tagore
If I call not thee in my prayers, if I keep not thee in my heart—thy love for me still waits for my love. — Rabindranath Tagore, from “iv,” Poetry (December 1912)
I dreamt that she sat by my head, tenderly ruffling my hair withher fingers, playing the melody of her touch. I looked at her faceand struggled with my tears, till the agony of unspoken words burstmy sleep like a bubble. I sat up and saw the glow of the Milky Way above my window,like a… Continue reading Rabindranath Tagore
Oh, dip my emptied life into that ocean,plunge it into the deepest fullness.Let me for once feel that lost sweet touchin the allness of the universe. — Rabindranath Tagore, from “Brink of Eternity,” Gitanjali: Song Offerings. (Digireads.com January 1, 2005) Originally published 1910.
Who are you, reader, reading my poems an hundred years hence?I cannot send you one single flower from this wealth of the spring, one single streak of gold from yonder clouds.Open your doors and look abroad. From your blossoming garden gather fragrant memories of the vanished flowers of an hundred years before.In the joy of… Continue reading Rabindranath Tagore
Love’s gift cannot be given, it waits to be accepted. — Rabindranath Tagore
[Tell me if this be all true] Tell me if this be all true, my lover, tell me if this be true. When these eyes flash their lightningthe dark clouds in your breast make stormy answer. Is it true that my lips are sweetlike the opening bud of the first conscious love? Do the memories… Continue reading Rabindranath Tagore
Fireflies My fancies are fireflies, —Specks of living lighttwinkling in the dark. The voice of wayside pansies,that do not attract the careless glance,murmurs in these desultory lines. In the drowsy dark caves of the minddreams build their nest with fragmentsdropped from day’s caravan. Spring scatters the petals of flowersthat are not for the fruits of… Continue reading Rabindranath Tagore
My dearest life, I know you are not mine forever; but do love me even if it’s for this moment. After that I shall vanish into the forest where you cast me, I won’t ask anyone for anything again. Give me something that can last me till I die. ― Rabindranath Tagore, Choker Bali. (Rupa… Continue reading Rabindranath Tagore
The Gardener: When I go alone at night When I go alone at night to my 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… Continue reading Rabindranath Tagore
The Vale of Soul-Making 