GRATIFICATION

By Rabindranath Tagore
The moment when tears flooded mine eyes in a monsoon of sorrow,
Before the threshold of my heart stopped the chariot of my friend.
By handing over to Him the chalice of union that was brimming
With separation and pain, I have no more regrets, regrets none.
Gathering secretly in my mind, a hope, neglected for years...
That thirst for a touch was quenched in a twinkling of eye.
I knew at last for whom I shed all my tears :
Blessed be this awakening, blessed these tears, blessed all.

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REGRETS

By Rabindranath Tagore
Why did I not strew the dry dust with my tears ?
Who could guess that You would appear like an uninvited ?
You have waded through the desert sand
Without any shadowy tree,
I imposed on You this dire wayfaring,
Curse on me!
Whereas I had been whiling away my idle days
In the shade of my home,
I ignored all that you suffered
At every step.
That suffering, however, inside my being
Had resounded with a secret smart,
Stigmatising my heart with a profound wound.

THIS FLAME OF MELODY

By Rabindranath Tagore
This flame of melody that You have set inside my heart,
That flame has pervaded all through-and-through.
Dances that flame while keeping the beats
From branch to branch upon worn out trees :
Whom does it invoke in the sky
With the elated hands ?
The stars stare dumb-founded in the dark,
Maddened a wind rises from nowhere
Immaculate, at the dead of the night,
Blossoms this golden lotus :
None can fathom the spell of that flame.

EXPECTATION

By Rabindranath Tagore
You remain ever present
Beyond my songs,
My melodies reach Your feet
Though I cannot attain You.
The wind bids imploring :
"Do not keep mooring the raft !"
Steering across, come up
To the centre of my heart.
The game of my songs with You
Is a game with the remoteness,
The aching notes of the flute
Throughout all day.
Seizing my flute, when shall You
Come over and blow into it,
In the dense obscurity
Of a joyous and mute night ?

Conviction

By Rabindranath Tagore
Gratifying all my thorns,
The flower shall bloom,
And all my suffering
Shall redden into a rose.
In my life-long craving for the sky
Zephyr shall rush to blow,
Maddening my heart it will
Plunder all fragrant treasures.
I shall feel no more amiss
Once I have treasures to share,
Once my intimate worship blossoms
In beauteous forms.
When by the end of night
My Beloved shall caress them,
All the petals unto the last
Will bedeck His feet.

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REFT FROM LOVE

By Rabindranath Tagore
If You cared not to fill the heart with love
Why did You permeate the morning sky
With abundant songs ?
Why weave wreaths with the stars ?
Why the flowery beds ?
Why does the west-wind murmur
A secret message in our ears ?
If You cared not to fill the heart with love,
Why keeps the sky staring at us

Intently ?
Why does my heart frequently
Become enraged
Embarking the raft on an ocean
Where the shore remains unknown ?

KNOWING YOU

      By Rabindranath Tagore
Countless are the persons You made me know,
Sheltered me in countless homes,
You turned the distant into an intimate, O Friend,
And the foreigner into a brother.
Each time I have to leave an old dwelling
My mind gets worried not to know what is up
Forgetting that You remain the familiar
In the midst of the new,
You turned the distant into an intimate, O Friend,
And the foreigner into a brother.
In life or in death, in the totality of this globe,
Wherever you choose to carry me,
O my life-long acquaintance,
Whatever You will reveal to me.
Others cease to be strangers once You are known,
Taboos vanish and vanishes all fear;
You remain wakeful by uniting everybody
May I always realise it,
You turned the distant into an intimate, O Friend,
And the foreigner into a brother.

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