Thursday, October 6, 2022

Cool draughts of peace

I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy.
~Rabindranath Tagore


For Poetry Friday, we have Rabindranath Tagore. Tagore received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913 and was the first non-European to do so. I saw this interesting quote in Brittanica.com (by W. Andrew Robinson): "Tagore’s poems are virtually untranslatable, as are his more than 2,000 songs, which achieved considerable popularity among all classes of Bengali society." Virtually unstranslatable! I'm sure he has a good reason for saying that and I wish I knew what he meant. Hard to understand? Culturally-specific? Anyway, Rabindranath Tagore:

III

On the day when the lotus bloomed, alas, my mind was straying, 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 to me that it was the eager breath of the summer seeking for its completion.

I knew not then that it was so near, that it was mine, and that this perfect sweetness had blossomed in the depth of my own heart.

IV

Thou art the sky and thou art the nest as well. Oh, thou beautiful, there in the nest it is thy love that encloses the soul with colours and sounds and odours. There comes the morning with the golden basket in her right hand bearing the wreath of beauty, silently to crown the earth. And there comes the evening over the lonely meadows deserted by herds, through trackless paths, carrying cool draughts of peace in her golden pitcher from the western ocean of rest.

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Sarah Grace Tuttle has the Poetry Friday round-up. Thanks, Sarah!

12 comments:

jama said...

Thanks for the peace and beauty that is Tagore. Enjoyed the poem and that first quote too.

Janice Scully said...

Thanks for introducing me to this quite sensual poet that made me want to know and feel what it might be like to live nearer to lotus blossoms.

Sarah Grace Tuttle said...

Tabatha, this is gorgeous. I'm having trouble pulling out just one line that resonates-- there's something about the cadence of the words in aggregate that makes pulling out a single line not compute in my brain. Thank you so much for sharing! I'll have to look up more of Rabindranath Tagore's work!

Jone MacCulloch said...

This is what I needed to read this afternoon, Thank you. some many beautiful lines.

Carol Varsalona said...

Tabatha, what a beautiful poem to read in low light. I sank into this poem with ease. This is a peaceful pom for evening reading. Thank you for sharing Tagore's poem.

Sally Murphy said...

'I knew it not'. What a beautiful reminder to heed the world around us. Thank you for sharing this - a lot to unpack.

Linda Mitchell said...

What lovely words...so thoughtful and ethereal. "I knew it not" draws me in as well as that wonderful "thou art the sky and nest as well." Beautiful. Thank you for sharing this.

Linda said...

Gorgeous! Thank you for introducing me to Tagore!

Michelle Kogan said...

Thanks for this visit with Tagore, I'm drinking in all his beauty and calm. Wish he was still here with us to spread more of his poetic splendor…

Mary Lee said...

Sigh...so very beautiful.

Heidi Mordhorst said...

So many containers--golden pitchers, baskets! Carry me.

Karen Edmisten said...

This is just beautiful, Tabatha. Thank you for a beautiful and peaceful start (with a hint of melancholy) to this morning. Right up my alley. :) xo