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Fruit-Gathering

By Rabindranath Tagore

[Translated from Bengali to English by the author]

New York: The Macmillan Company, 1916

I

Bid me and I shall gather my fruits to bring them in full basketsinto your courtyard, though some are lost and some not ripe. 

For the season grows heavy with its fulness, and there is aplaintive shepherd's pipe in the shade. 

Bid me and I shall set sail on the river. 

The March wind is fretful, fretting the languid waves intomurmurs. 

The garden has yielded its all, and in the weary hour of eveningthe call comes from your house on the shore in the sunset. 

II

My life when young was like a flower--a flower that loosens apetal or two from her abundance and never feels the loss when thespring breeze comes to beg at her door. 

Now at the end of youth my life is like a fruit, having nothingto spare, and waiting to offer herself completely with her fullburden of sweetness. 

III

Is summer's festival only for fresh blossoms and not also forwithered leaves and faded flowers?

Is the song of the sea in tune only with the rising waves?

Does it not also sing with the waves that fall?

Jewels are woven into the carpet where stands my king, but thereare patient clods waiting to be touched by his feet. 

Few are the wise and the great who sit by my Master, but he hastaken the foolish in his arms and made me his servant for ever. 

IV

I woke and found his letter with the morning. 

I do not know what it says, for I cannot read. 

I shall leave the wise man alone with his books, I shall nottrouble him, for who knows if he can read what the letter says. 

Let me hold it to my forehead and press it to my heart. 

When the night grows still and stars come out one by one I willspread it on my lap and stay silent. 

The rustling leaves will read it aloud to me, the rushing streamwill chant it, and the seven wise stars will sing it to me fromthe sky. 

I cannot find what I seek, I cannot understand what I wouldlearn; but this unread letter has lightened my burdens and turnedmy thoughts into songs. 

V

A handful of dust could hide your signal when I did not know itsmeaning. 

Now that I am wiser I read it in all that hid it before. 

It is painted in petals of flowers; waves flash it from theirfoam; hills hold it high on their summits. 

I had my face turned from you, therefore I read the letters awryand knew not their meaning. 

VI

Where roads are made I lose my way. 

In the wide water, in the blue sky there is no line of a track. 

The pathway is hidden by the birds' wings, by the star-fires, bythe flowers of the wayfaring seasons. 

And I ask my heart if its blood carries the wisdom of the unseenway. 

VII

Alas, I cannot stay in the house, and home has become no home tome, for the eternal Stranger calls, he is going along the road. 

The sound of his footfall knocks at my breast; it pains me!

The wind is up, the sea is moaning. I leave all my cares anddoubts to follow the homeless tide, for the Stranger calls me, heis going along the road. 

VIII

Be ready to launch forth, my heart! and let those linger whomust. 

For your name has been called in the morning sky. 

Wait for none!

The desire of the bud is for the night and dew, but the blownflower cries for the freedom of light. 

Burst your sheath, my heart, and come forth!

IX

When I lingered among my hoarded treasure I felt like a worm thatfeeds in the dark upon the fruit where it was born. 

I leave this prison of decay. 

I care not to haunt the mouldy stillness, for I go in search ofeverlasting youth; I throw away all that is not one with my lifenor as light as my laughter. 

I run through time and, O my heart, in your chariot dances thepoet who sings while he wanders. 

X

You took my hand and drew me to your side, made me sit on thehigh seat before all men, till I became timid, unable to stir andwalk my own way; doubting and debating at every step lest Ishould tread upon any thorn of their disfavour. 

I am freed at last!

The blow has come, the drum of insult sounded, my seat is laidlow in the dust. 

My paths are open before me. 

My wings are full of the desire of the sky. 

I go to join the shooting stars of midnight, to plunge into theprofound shadow. 

I am like the storm-driven cloud of summer that, having cast offits crown of gold, hangs as a sword the thunderbolt upon a chainof lightning. 

In desperate joy I run upon the dusty path of the despised; Idraw near to your final welcome. 

The child finds its mother when it leaves her womb. 

When I am parted from you, thrown out from your household, I amfree to see your face. 

XI

It decks me only to mock me, this jewelled chain of mine. 

It bruises me when on my neck, it strangles me when I struggle totear it off. 

It grips my throat, it chokes my singing. 

Could I but offer it to your hand, my Lord, I would be saved. 

Take it from me, and in exchange bind me to you with a garland, for I am ashamed to stand before you with this jewelled chain onmy neck. 

XII

Far below flowed the Jumna, swift and clear, above frowned thejutting bank. 

Hills dark with the woods and scarred with the torrents weregathered around. 

Govinda, the great Sikh teacher, sat on the rock readingscriptures, when Raghunath, his disciple, proud of his wealth, came and bowed to him and said, "I have brought my poor presentunworthy of your acceptance. "

Thus saying he displayed before the teacher a pair of goldbangles wrought with costly stones. 

The master took up one of them, twirling it round his finger, andthe diamonds darted shafts of light. 

Suddenly it slipped from his hand and rolled down the bank intothe water. 

"Alas, " screamed Raghunath, and jumped into the stream. 

The teacher set his eyes upon his book, and the water held andhid what it stole and went its way. 

The daylight faded when Raghunath came back to the teacher tiredand dripping. 

He panted and said, "I can still get it back if you show me whereit fell. "

The teacher took up the remaining bangle and throwing it into thewater said, "It is there. "

XIII

To move is to meet you every moment, Fellow-traveller!

It is to sing to the falling of your feet. 

He whom your breath touches does not glide by the shelter of thebank. 

He spreads a reckless sail to the wind and rides the turbulentwater. 

He who throws his doors open and steps onward receives yourgreeting. 

He does not stay to count his gain or to mourn his loss; hisheart beats the drum for his march, for that is to march with youevery step, Fellow-traveller!

XIV

My portion of the best in this world will come from your hands:such was your promise. 

Therefore your light glistens in my tears. 

I fear to be led by others lest I miss you waiting in some roadcorner to be my guide. 

I walk my own wilful way till my very folly tempts you to mydoor. 

For I have your promise that my portion of the best in this worldwill come from your hands. 

XV

Your speech is simple, my Master, but not theirs who talk of you. 

I understand the voice of your stars and the silence of yourtrees. 

I know that my heart would open like a flower; that my life hasfilled itself at a hidden fountain. 

Your songs, like birds from the lonely land of snow, are wingingto build their nests in my heart against the warmth of its April, and I am content to wait for the merry season. 

XVI

They knew the way and went to seek you along the narrow lane, butI wandered abroad into the night for I was ignorant. 

I was not schooled enough to be afraid of you in the dark, therefore I came upon your doorstep unaware. 

The wise rebuked me and bade me be gone, for I had not come bythe lane. 

I turned away in doubt, but you held me fast, and their scoldingbecame louder every day. 

XVII

I brought out my earthen lamp from my house and cried, "Come, children, I will light your path!"

The night was still dark when I returned, leaving the road to itssilence, crying, "Light me, O Fire! for my earthen lamp liesbroken in the dust!"

XVIII

No: it is not yours to open buds into blossoms. 

Shake the bud, strike it; it is beyond your power to make itblossom. 

Your touch soils it, you tear its petals to pieces and strew themin the dust. 

But no colours appear, and no perfume. 

Ah! it is not for you to open the bud into a blossom. 

He who can open the bud does it so simply. 

He gives it a glance, and the life-sap stirs through its veins. 

At his breath the flower spreads its wings and flutters in thewind. 

Colours flush out like heart-longings, the perfume betrays asweet secret. 

He who can open the bud does it so simply. 

XIX

Sudās, the gardener, plucked from his tank the last lotus left bythe ravage of winter and went to sell it to the king at thepalace gate. 

There he met a traveller who said to him, "Ask your price for thelast lotus, --I shall offer it to Lord Buddha. "

Sudās said, "If you pay one golden _māshā_ it will be yours. "

The traveller paid it. 

At that moment the king came out and he wished to buy the flower, for he was on his way to see Lord Buddha, and he thought, "Itwould be a fine thing to lay at his feet the lotus that bloomedin winter. "

When the gardener said he had been offered a golden māshā theking offered him ten, but the traveller doubled the price. 

The gardener, being greedy, imagined a greater gain from him forwhose sake they were bidding. He bowed and said, "I cannot sellthis lotus. "

In the hushed shade of the mango grove beyond the city wall Sudāsstood before Lord Buddha, on whose lips sat the silence of loveand whose eyes beamed peace like the morning star of thedew-washed autumn. 

Sudās looked in his face and put the lotus at his feet and bowedhis head to the dust. 

Buddha smiled and asked, "What is your wish, my son?"

Sudās cried, "The least touch of your feet. "

XX

Make me thy poet, O Night, veiled Night!

There are some who have sat speechless for ages in thy shadow;let me utter their songs. 

Take me up on thy chariot without wheels, running noiselesslyfrom world to world, thou queen in the palace of time, thoudarkly beautiful!

Many a questioning mind has stealthily entered thy courtyard androamed through thy lampless house seeking for answers. 

From many a heart, pierced with the arrow of joy from the handsof the Unknown, have burst forth glad chants, shaking thedarkness to its foundation. 

Those wakeful souls gaze in the starlight in wonder at thetreasure they have suddenly found. 

Make me their poet, O Night, the poet of thy fathomless silence. 

XXI

I will meet one day the Life within me, the joy that hides in mylife, though the days perplex my path with their idle dust. 

I have known it in glimpses, and its fitful breath has come uponme, making my thoughts fragrant for a while. 

I will meet one day the Joy without me that dwells behind thescreen of light--and will stand in the overflowing solitude whereall things are seen as by their creator. 

XXII

This autumn morning is tired with excess of light, and if yoursongs grow fitful and languid give me your flute awhile. 

I shall but play with it as the whim takes me, --now take it on mylap, now touch it with my lips, now keep it by my side on thegrass. 

But in the solemn evening stillness I shall gather flowers, todeck it with wreaths, I shall fill it with fragrance; I shallworship it with the lighted lamp. 

Then at night I shall come to you and give you back your flute. 

You will play on it the music of midnight when the lonelycrescent moon wanders among the stars. 

XXIII

The poet's mind floats and dances on the waves of life amidst thevoices of wind and water. 

Now when the sun has set and the darkened sky draws upon the sealike drooping lashes upon a weary eye it is time to take away hispen, and let his thoughts sink into the bottom of the deep amidthe eternal secret of that silence. 

XXIV

The night is dark and your slumber is deep in the hush of mybeing. 

Wake, O Pain of Love, for I know not how to open the door, and Istand outside. 

The hours wait, the stars watch, the wind is still, the silenceis heavy in my heart. 

Wake, Love, wake! brim my empty cup, and with a breath of songruffle the night. 

XXV

The bird of the morning sings. 

Whence has he word of the morning before the morning breaks, andwhen the dragon night still holds the sky in its cold blackcoils?

Tell me, bird of the morning, how, through the twofold night ofthe sky and the leaves, he found his way into your dream, themessenger out of the east?

The world did not believe you when you cried, "The sun is on hisway, the night is no more. "

O sleeper, awake!

Bare your forehead, waiting for the first blessing of light, andsing with the bird of the morning in glad faith. 

XXVI

The beggar in me lifted his lean hands to the starless sky andcried into night's ear with his hungry voice. 

His prayers were to the blind Darkness who lay like a fallen godin a desolate heaven of lost hopes. 

The cry of desire eddied round a chasm of despair, a wailing birdcircling its empty nest. 

But when morning dropped anchor at the rim of the East, thebeggar in me leapt and cried:

"Blessed am I that the deaf night denied me--that its coffer wasempty. "

He cried, "O Life, O Light, you are precious! and precious is thejoy that at last has known you!"

XXVII

Sanātan was telling his beads by the Ganges when a Brahmin inrags came to him and said, "Help me, I am poor!"

"My alms-bowl is all that is my own, " said Sanātan, "I have givenaway everything I had. "

"But my lord Shiva came to me in my dreams, " said the Brahmin, "and counselled me to come to you. "

Sanātan suddenly remembered he had picked up a stone withoutprice among the pebbles on the river-bank, and thinking that someone might need it hid it in the sands. 

He pointed out the spot to the Brahmin, who wondering dug up thestone. 

The Brahmin sat on the earth and mused alone till the sun wentdown behind the trees, and cowherds went home with their cattle. 

Then he rose and came slowly to Sanātan and said, "Master, giveme the least fraction of the wealth that disdains all the wealthof the world. "

And he threw the precious stone into the water. 

XXVIII

Time after time I came to your gate with raised hands, asking formore and yet more. 

You gave and gave, now in slow measure, now in sudden excess. 

I took some, and some things I let drop; some lay heavy on myhands; some I made into playthings and broke them when tired;till the wrecks and the hoard of your gifts grew immense, hidingyou, and the ceaseless expectation wore my heart out. 

Take, oh take--has now become my cry. 

Shatter all from this beggar's bowl: put out this lamp of theimportunate watcher: hold my hands, raise me from thestill-gathering heap of your gifts into the bare infinity ofyour uncrowded presence. 

XXIX

You have set me among those who are defeated. 

I know it is not for me to win, nor to leave the game. 

I shall plunge into the pool although but to sink to the bottom. 

I shall play the game of my undoing. 

I shall stake all I have and when I lose my last penny I shallstake myself, and then I think I shall have won through my utterdefeat. 

XXX

A smile of mirth spread over the sky when you dressed my heart inrags and sent her forth into the road to beg. 

She went from door to door, and many a time when her bowl wasnearly full she was robbed. 

At the end of the weary day she came to your palace gate holdingup her pitiful bowl, and you came and took her hand and seatedher beside you on your throne. 

XXXI

"Who among you will take up the duty of feeding the hungry?"Lord Buddha asked his followers when famine raged at Shravasti. 

Ratnākar, the banker, hung his head and said, "Much more isneeded than all my wealth to feed the hungry. "

Jaysen, the chief of the King's army, said, "I would gladly givemy life's blood, but there is not enough food in my house. "

Dharmapāal, who owned broad acres of land, said with a sigh, "Thedrought demon has sucked my fields dry. I know not how to payKing's dues. "

Then rose Supriyā, the mendicant's daughter. 

She bowed to all and meekly said, "I will feed the hungry. "

"How!" they cried in surprise. "How can you hope to fulfil thatvow?"

"I am the poorest of you all, " said Supriyā, "that is mystrength. I have my coffer and my store at each of your houses. "

XXXII

My king was unknown to me, therefore when he claimed his tributeI was bold to think I would hide myself leaving my debts unpaid. 

I fled and fled behind my day's work and my night's dreams. 

But his claims followed me at every breath I drew. 

Thus I came to know that I am known to him and no place leftwhich is mine. 

Now I wish to lay my all before his feet, and gain the right tomy place in his kingdom. 

XXXIII

When I thought I would mould you, an image from my life for mento worship, I brought my dust and desires and all my coloureddelusions and dreams. 

When I asked you to mould with my life an image from your heartfor you to love, you brought your fire and force, and truth, loveliness and peace. 

XXXIV

"Sire, " announced the servant to the King, "the saint Narottamhas never deigned to enter your royal temple. 

"He is singing God's praise under the trees by the open road. The temple is empty of worshippers. 

"They flock round him like bees round the white lotus, leavingthe golden jar of honey unheeded. "

The King, vexed at heart, went to the spot where Narottam sat onthe grass. 

He asked him, "Father, why leave my temple of the golden dome andsit on the dust outside to preach God's love?"

"Because God is not there in your temple, " said Narottam. 

The King frowned and said, "Do you know, twenty millions of goldwent to the making of that marvel of art, and it was consecratedto God with costly rites?"

"Yes, I know it, " answered Narottam. "It was in that year whenthousands of your people whose houses had been burned stoodvainly asking for help at your door. 

"And God said, 'The poor creature who can give no shelter to hisbrothers would build my house!'

"And he took his place with the shelterless under the trees bythe road. 

"And that golden bubble is empty of all but hot vapour of pride. "

The King cried in anger, "Leave my land. "

Calmly said the saint, "Yes, banish me where you have banished myGod. "

XXXV

The trumpet lies in the dust. 

The wind is weary, the light is dead. 

Ah, the evil day!

Come, fighters, carrying your flags, and singers, with yourwar-songs!

Come, pilgrims of the march, hurrying on your journey!

The trumpet lies in the dust waiting for us. 

I was on my way to the temple with my evening offerings, seekingfor a place of rest after the day's dusty toil: hoping my hurtswould be healed and the stains in my garment washed white, when Ifound thy trumpet lying in the dust. 

Was it not the hour for me to light my evening lamp?

Had not the night sung its lullaby to the stars?

O thou blood-red rose, my poppies of sleep have paled and faded!

I was certain my wanderings were over and my debts all paid whensuddenly I came upon thy trumpet lying in the dust. 

Strike my drowsy heart with thy spell of youth!

Let my joy in life blaze up in fire. Let the shafts of awakeningfly through the heart of night, and a thrill of dread shakeblindness and palsy. 

I have come to raise thy trumpet from the dust. 

Sleep is no more for me--my walk shall be through showers ofarrows. 

Some shall run out of their houses and come to my side--someshall weep. 

Some in their beds shall toss and groan in dire dreams. 

For to-night thy trumpet shall be sounded. 

From thee I have asked peace only to find shame. 

Now I stand before thee--help me to put on my armour!

Let hard blows of trouble strike fire into my life. 

Let my heart beat in pain, the drum of thy victory. 

My hands shall be utterly emptied to take up thy trumpet. 

XXXVI

When, mad in their mirth, they raised dust to soil thy robe, OBeautiful, it made my heart sick. 

I cried to thee and said, "Take thy rod of punishment and judgethem. "

The morning light struck upon those eyes, red with the revel ofnight; the place of the white lily greeted their burning breath;the stars through the depth of the sacred dark stared at theircarousing--at those that raised dust to soil thy robe, OBeautiful!

Thy judgment seat was in the flower garden, in the birds' notesin springtime: in the shady river-banks, where the trees mutteredin answer to the muttering of the waves. 

O my Lover, they were pitiless in their passion. 

They prowled in the dark to snatch thy ornaments to deck theirown desires. 

When they had struck thee and thou wert pained, it pierced me tothe quick, and I cried to thee and said, "Take thy sword, O myLover, and judge them!"

Ah, but thy justice was vigilant. 

A mother's tears were shed on their insolence; the imperishablefaith of a lover hid their spears of rebellion in its own wounds. 

Thy judgment was in the mute pain of sleepless love: in the blushof the chaste: in the tears of the night of the desolate: in thepale morning-light of forgiveness. 

O Terrible, they in their reckless greed climbed thy gate atnight, breaking into thy storehouse to rob thee. 

But the weight of their plunder grew immense, too heavy to carryor to remove. 

Thereupon I cried to thee and said, Forgive them, O Terrible!

Thy forgiveness burst in storms, throwing them down, scatteringtheir thefts in the dust. 

Thy forgiveness was in the thunder-stone; in the shower of blood;in the angry red of the sunset. 

XXXVII

Upagupta, the disciple of Buddha, lay asleep on the dust by thecity wall of Mathura. 

Lamps were all out, doors were all shut, and stars were allhidden by the murky sky of August. 

Whose feet were those tinkling with anklets, touching his breastof a sudden?

He woke up startled, and the light from a woman's lamp struck hisforgiving eyes. 

It was the dancing girl, starred with jewels, clouded with apale-blue mantle, drunk with the wine of her youth. 

She lowered her lamp and saw the young face, austerely beautiful. 

"Forgive me, young ascetic, " said the woman; "graciously come tomy house. The dusty earth is not a fit bed for you. "

The ascetic answered, "Woman, go on your way; when the time isripe I will come to you. "

Suddenly the black night showed its teeth in a flash oflightning. 

The storm growled from the corner of the sky, and the womantrembled in fear. 

. .. .. . 

The branches of the wayside trees were aching with blossom. 

Gay notes of the flute came floating in the warm spring air fromafar. 

The citizens had gone to the woods, to the festival of flowers. 

From the mid-sky gazed the full moon on the shadows of the silenttown. 

The young ascetic was walking in the lonely street, whileoverhead the lovesick _koels_ urged from the mango branchestheir sleepless plaint. 

Upagupta passed through the city gates, and stood at the base ofthe rampart. 

What woman lay in the shadow of the wall at his feet, struck withthe black pestilence, her body spotted with sores, hurriedlydriven away from the town?

The ascetic sat by her side, taking her head on his knees, andmoistened her lips with water and smeared her body with balm. 

"Who are you, merciful one?" asked the woman. 

"The time, at last, has come to visit you, and I am here, "replied the young ascetic. 

XXXVIII

This is no mere dallying of love between us, my lover. 

Again and again have swooped down upon me the screaming nights ofstorm, blowing out my lamp: dark doubts have gathered, blottingout all stars from my sky. 

Again and again the banks have burst, letting the flood sweepaway my harvest, and wailing and despair have rent my sky fromend to end. 

This have I learnt that there are blows of pain in your love, never the cold apathy of death. 

XXXIX

The wall breaks asunder, light, like divine laughter, bursts in. Victory, O Light!

The heart of the night is pierced!

With your flashing sword cut in twain the tangle of doubt andfeeble desires!

Victory!

Come, Implacable!

Come, you who are terrible in your whiteness. 

O Light, your drum sounds in the march of fire, and the red torchis held on high; death dies in a burst of splendour!

XL

O fire, my brother, I sing victory to you. 

You are the bright red image of fearful freedom. 

You swing your arms in the sky, you sweep your impetuous fingersacross the harp-string, your dance music is beautiful. 

When my days are ended and the gates are opened you will burn toashes this cordage of hands and feet. 

My body will be one with you, my heart will be caught in thewhirls of your frenzy, and the burning heat that was my life willflash up and mingle itself in your flame. 

XLI

The Boatman is out crossing the wild sea at night. 

The mast is aching because of its full sails filled with theviolent wind. 

Stung with the night's fang the sky falls upon the sea, poisonedwith black fear. 

The waves dash their heads against the dark unseen, and theBoatman is out crossing the wild sea. 

The Boatman is out, I know not for what tryst, startling thenight with the sudden white of his sails. 

I know not at what shore, at last, he lands to reach the silentcourtyard where the lamp is burning and to find her who sits inthe dust and waits. 

What is the quest that makes his boat care not for storm nordarkness?

Is it heavy with gems and pearls?

Ah, no, the Boatman brings with him no treasure, but only a whiterose in his hand and a song on his lips. 

It is for her who watches alone at night with her lamp burning. 

She dwells in the wayside hut. Her loose hair flies in the windand hides her eyes. 

The storm shrieks through her broken doors, the light flickers inher earthen lamp flinging shadows on the walls. 

Through the howl of the winds she hears him call her name, shewhose name is unknown. 

It is long since the Boatman sailed. It will be long before theday breaks and he knocks at the door. 

The drums will not be beaten and none will know. 

Only light shall fill the house, blessed shall be the dust, andthe heart glad. 

All doubts shall vanish in silence when the Boatman comes to theshore. 

XLII

I cling to this living raft, my body, in the narrow stream of myearthly years. 

I leave it when the crossing is over. And then?

I do not know if the light there and the darkness are the same. 

The Unknown is the perpetual freedom:

He is pitiless in his love. 

He crushes the shell for the pearl, dumb in the prison of thedark. 

You muse and weep for the days that are done, poor heart!

Be glad that days are to come!

The hour strikes, O pilgrim!

It is time for you to take the parting of the ways!

His face will be unveiled once again and you shall meet. 

XLIII

Over the relic of Lord Buddha King Bimbisār built a shrine, asalutation in white marble. 

There in the evening would come all the brides and daughters ofthe King's house to offer flowers and light lamps. 

When the son became king in his time he washed his father's creedaway with blood, and lit sacrificial fires with its sacred books. 

The autumn day was dying. The evening hour of worship was near. 

Shrimati, the queen's maid, devoted to Lord Buddha, having bathedin holy water, and decked the golden tray with lamps and freshwhite blossoms, silently raised her dark eyes to the queen'sface. 

The queen shuddered in fear and said, "Do you not know, foolishgirl, that death is the penalty for whoever brings worship toBuddha's shrine?

"Such is the king's will. "

Shrimati bowed to the queen, and turning away from her door cameand stood before Amitā, the newly wed bride of the king's son. 

A mirror of burnished gold on her lap, the newly wed bride wasbraiding her dark long tresses and painting the red spot of goodluck at the parting of her hair. 

Her hands trembled when she saw the young maid, and she cried, "What fearful peril would you bring me! Leave me this instant. "

Princess Shuklā sat at the window reading her book of romance bythe light of the setting sun. 

She started when she saw at her door the maid with the sacredofferings. 

Her book fell down from her lap, and she whispered in Shrimati'sears, "Rush not to death, daring woman!"

Shrimati walked from door to door. She raised her head andcried, "O women of the king's house, hasten!

"The time for our Lord's worship is come!"

Some shut their doors in her face and some reviled her. 

The last gleam of daylight faded from the bronze dome of thepalace tower. 

Deep shadows settled in street corners: the bustle of the citywas hushed: the gong at the temple of Shiva announced the time ofthe evening prayer. 

In the dark of the autumn evening, deep as a limpid lake, starsthrobbed with light, when the guards of the palace garden werestartled to see through the trees a row of lamps burning at theshrine of Buddha. 

They ran with their swords unsheathed, crying, "Who are you, foolish one, reckless of death?"

"I am Shrimati, " replied a sweet voice, "the servant of LordBuddha. "

The next moment her heart's blood coloured the cold marble withits red. 

And in the still hour of stars died the light of the last lamp ofworship at the foot of the shrine. 

XLIV

The day that stands between you and me makes her last bow offarewell. 

The night draws her veil over her face, and hides the one lampburning in my chamber. 

Your dark servant comes noiselessly and spreads the bridal carpetfor you to take your seat there alone with me in the wordlesssilence till night is done. 

XLV

My night has passed on the bed of sorrow, and my eyes are tired. My heavy heart is not yet ready to meet morning with its crowdedjoys. 

Draw a veil over this naked light, beckon aside from me thisglaring flash and dance of life. 

Let the mantle of tender darkness cover me in its folds, andcover my pain awhile from the pressure of the world. 

XLVI

The time is past when I could repay her for all that I received. 

Her night has found its morning and thou hast taken her to thyarms: and to thee I bring my gratitude and my gifts that were forher. 

For all hurts and offences to her I come to thee for forgiveness. 

I offer to thy service those flowers of my love that remained inbud when she waited for them to open. 

XLVII

I found a few old letters of mine carefully hidden in her box--afew small toys for her memory to play with. 

With a timorous heart she tried to steal these trifles fromtime's turbulent stream, and said, "These are mine only!"

Ah, there is no one now to claim them, who can pay their pricewith loving care, yet here they are still. 

Surely there is love in this world to save her from utter loss, even like this love of hers that saved these letters with suchfond care. 

XLVIII

Bring beauty and order into my forlorn life, woman, as youbrought them into my house when you lived. 

Sweep away the dusty fragments of the hours, fill the empty jars, and mend all that has been neglected. 

Then open the inner door of the shrine, light the candle, and letus meet there in silence before our God. 

XLIX

The pain was great when the strings were being tuned, my Master!

Begin your music, and let me forget the pain; let me feel inbeauty what you had in your mind through those pitiless days. 

The waning night lingers at my doors, let her take her leave insongs. 

Pour your heart into my life strings, my Master, in tunes thatdescend from your stars. 

L

In the lightning flash of a moment I have seen the immensity ofyour creation in my life--creation through many a death fromworld to world. 

I weep at my unworthiness when I see my life in the hands of theunmeaning hours, --but when I see it in your hands I know it istoo precious to be squandered among shadows. 

LI

I know that at the dim end of some day the sun will bid me itsfarewell. 

Shepherds will play their pipes beneath the banyan trees, andcattle graze on the slope by the river, while my days will passinto the dark. 

This is my prayer, that I may know before I leave why the earthcalled me to her arms. 

Why her night's silence spoke to me of stars, and her daylightkissed my thoughts into flower. 

Before I go may I linger over my last refrain, completing itsmusic, may the lamp be lit to see your face and the wreath wovento crown you. 

LII

What music is that in whose measure the world is rocked?

We laugh when it beats upon the crest of life, we shrink interror when it returns into the dark. 

But the play is the same that comes and goes with the rhythm ofthe endless music. 

You hide your treasure in the palm of your hand, and we cry thatwe are robbed. 

But open and shut your palm as you will, the gain and the lossare the same. 

At the game you play with your own self you lose and win at once. 

LIII

I have kissed this world with my eyes and my limbs; I have wraptit within my heart in numberless folds; I have flooded its daysand nights with thoughts till the world and my life have grownone, --and I love my life because I love the light of the sky soenwoven with me. 

If to leave this world be as real as to love it--then there mustbe a meaning in the meeting and the parting of life. 

If that love were deceived in death, then the canker of thisdeceit would eat into all things, and the stars would shrivel andgrow black. 

LIV

The Cloud said to me, "I vanish"; the Night said, "I plunge intothe fiery dawn. "

The Pain said, "I remain in deep silence as his footprint. "

"I die into the fulness, " said my life to me. 

The Earth said, "My lights kiss your thoughts every moment. "

"The days pass, " Love said, "but I wait for you. "

Death said, "I ply the boat of your life across the sea. "

LV

Tulsidas, the poet, was wandering, deep in thought, by theGanges, in that lonely spot where they burn their dead. 

He found a woman sitting at the feet of the corpse of her deadhusband, gaily dressed as for a wedding. 

She rose as she saw him, bowed to him, and said, "Permit me, Master, with your blessing, to follow my husband to heaven. "

"Why such hurry, my daughter?" asked Tulsidas. "Is not thisearth also His who made heaven?"

"For heaven I do not long, " said the woman. "I want my husband. "

Tulsidas smiled and said to her, "Go back to your home, my child. Before the month is over you will find your husband. "

The woman went back with glad hope. Tulsidas came to her everyday and gave her high thoughts to think, till her heart wasfilled to the brim with divine love. 

When the month was scarcely over, her neighbours came to her, asking, "Woman, have you found your husband?"

The widow smiled and said, "I have. "

Eagerly they asked, "Where is he?"

"In my heart is my lord, one with me, " said the woman. 

LVI

You came for a moment to my side and touched me with the greatmystery of the woman that there is in the heart of creation. 

She who is ever returning to God his own outflowing ofsweetness; she is the ever fresh beauty and youth in nature; shedances in the bubbling streams and sings in the morning light;she with heaving waves suckles the thirsty earth; in her theEternal One breaks in two in a joy that no longer may containitself, and overflows in the pain of love. 

LVII

Who is she who dwells in my heart, the woman forlorn for ever?

I wooed her and I failed to win her. I decked her with wreathsand sang in her praise. 

A smile shone in her face for a moment, then it faded. 

"I have no joy in thee, " she cried, the woman in sorrow. 

I bought her jewelled anklets and fanned her with a fangem-studded; I made her a bed on a bedstead of gold. 

There flickered a gleam of gladness in her eyes, then it died. 

"I have no joy in these, " she cried, the woman in sorrow. 

I seated her upon a car of triumph and drove her from end to endof the earth. 

Conquered hearts bowed down at her feet, and shouts of applauserang in the sky. 

Pride shone in her eyes for a moment, then it was dimmed intears. 

"I have no joy in conquest, " she cried, the woman in sorrow. 

I asked her, "Tell me whom do you seek?"

She only said, "I wait for him of the unknown name. "

Days pass by and she cries, "When will my beloved come whom Iknow not, and be known to me for ever?"

LVIII

Yours is the light that breaks forth from the dark, and the goodthat sprouts from the cleft heart of strife. 

Yours is the house that opens upon the world, and the love thatcalls to the battlefield. 

Yours is the gift that still is a gain when everything is a loss, and the life that flows through the caverns of death. 

Yours is the heaven that lies in the common dust, and you arethere for me, you are there for all. 

LIX

When the weariness of the road is upon me, and the thirst of thesultry day; when the ghostly hours of the dusk throw theirshadows across my life, then I cry not for your voice only, myfriend, but for your touch. 

There is an anguish in my heart for the burden of its riches notgiven to you. 

Put out your hand through the night, let me hold it and fill itand keep it; let me feel its touch along the lengthening stretchof my loneliness. 

LX

The odour cries in the bud, "Ah me, the day departs, the happyday of spring, and I am a prisoner in petals!"

Do not lose heart, timid thing! Your bonds will burst, the budwill open into flower, and when you die in the fulness of life, even then the spring will live on. 

The odour pants and flutters within the bud, crying, "Ah me, thehours pass by, yet I do not know where I go, or what it is Iseek!"

Do not lose heart, timid thing! The spring breeze has overheardyour desire, the day will not end before you have fulfilled yourbeing. 

Dark is the future to her, and the odour cries in despair, "Ahme, through whose fault is my life so unmeaning?

"Who can tell me, why I am at all?" Do not lose heart, timidthing! The perfect dawn is near when you will mingle your lifewith all life and know at last your purpose. 

LXI

She is still a child, my lord. 

She runs about your palace and plays, and tries to make of you aplaything as well. 

She heeds not when her hair tumbles down and her careless garmentdrags in the dust. 

She falls asleep when you speak to her and answers not--and theflower you give her in the morning slips to the dust from herhands. 

When the storm bursts and darkness is over the sky she issleepless; her dolls lie scattered on the earth and she clings toyou in terror. 

She is afraid that she may fail in service to you. 

But with a smile you watch her at her game. 

You know her. 

The child sitting in the dust is your destined bride; her playwill be stilled and deepened into love. 

LXII

"What is there but the sky, O Sun, that can hold thine image?"

"I dream of thee, but to serve thee I can never hope, " thedewdrop wept and said, "I am too small to take thee unto me, great lord, and my life is all tears. "

"I illumine the limitless sky, yet I can yield myself up to atiny drop of dew, " thus the Sun said; "I shall become but asparkle of light and fill you, and your little life will be alaughing orb. "

LXIII

Not for me is the love that knows no restraint, but like thefoaming wine that having burst its vessel in a moment would runto waste. 

Send me the love which is cool and pure like your rain thatblesses the thirsty earth and fills the homely earthen jars. 

Send me the love that would soak down into the centre of being, and from there would spread like the unseen sap through thebranching tree of life, giving birth to fruits and flowers. 

Send me the love that keeps the heart still with the fulness ofpeace. 

LXIV

The sun had set on the western margin of the river among thetangle of the forest. 

The hermit boys had brought the cattle home, and sat round thefire to listen to the master, Guatama, when a strange boy came, and greeted him with fruits and flowers, and, bowing low at hisfeet, spoke in a bird-like voice--"Lord, I have come to thee tobe taken into the path of the supreme Truth. 

"My name is Satyakāma. "

"Blessings be on thy head, " said the master. 

"Of what clan art thou, my child? It is only fitting for aBrahmin to aspire to the highest wisdom. "

"Master, " answered the boy, "I know not of what clan I am. Ishall go and ask my mother. "

Thus saying, Satyakāma took leave, and wading across theshallow stream, came back to his mother's hut, which stood at theend of the sandy waste at the edge of the sleeping village. 

The lamp burnt dimly in the room, and the mother stood at thedoor in the dark waiting for her son's return. 

She clasped him to her bosom, kissed him on his hair, and askedhim of his errand to the master. 

"What is the name of my father, dear mother?" asked the boy. 

"It is only fitting for a Brahmin to aspire to the highestwisdom, said Lord Guatama to me. "

The woman lowered her eyes, and spoke in a whisper. 

"In my youth I was poor and had many masters. Thou didst come tothy mother Jabālā's arms, my darling, who had no husband. "

The early rays of the sun glistened on the tree-tops of theforest hermitage. 

The students, with their tangled hair still wet with theirmorning bath, sat under the ancient tree, before the master. 

There came Satyakāma. 

He bowed low at the feet of the sage, and stood silent. 

"Tell me, " the great teacher asked him, "of what clan art thou?"

"My lord, " he answered, "I know it not. My mother said when Iasked her, 'I had served many masters in my youth, and thou hadstcome to thy mother Jabālā's arms, who had no husband. '"

There rose a murmur like the angry hum of bees disturbed in theirhive; and the students muttered at the shameless insolence ofthat outcast. 

Master Guatama rose from his seat, stretched out his arms, tookthe boy to his bosom, and said, "Best of all Brahmins art thou, my child. Thou hast the noblest heritage of truth. "

LXV

May be there is one house in this city where the gate opens forever this morning at the touch of the sunrise, where the errandof the light is fulfilled. 

The flowers have opened in hedges and gardens, and may be thereis one heart that has found in them this morning the gift thathas been on its voyage from endless time. 

LXVI

Listen, my heart, in his flute is the music of the smell of wildflowers, of the glistening leaves and gleaming water, of shadowsresonant with bees' wings. 

The flute steals his smile from my friend's lips and spreads itover my life. 

LXVII

You always stand alone beyond the stream of my songs. 

The waves of my tunes wash your feet but I know not how to reachthem. 

This play of mine with you is a play from afar. 

It is the pain of separation that melts into melody through myflute. 

I wait for the time when your boat crosses over to my shore andyou take my flute into your own hands. 

LXVIII

Suddenly the window of my heart flew open this morning, thewindow that looks out on your heart. 

I wondered to see that the name by which you know me is writtenin April leaves and flowers, and I sat silent. 

The curtain was blown away for a moment between my songs andyours. 

I found that your morning light was full of my own mute songsunsung; I thought that I would learn them at your feet--and I satsilent. 

LXIX

You were in the centre of my heart, therefore when my heartwandered she never found you; you hid yourself from my loves andhopes till the last, for you were always in them. 

You were the inmost joy in the play of my youth, and when I wastoo busy with the play the joy was passed by. 

You sang to me in the ecstasies of my life and I forgot to singto you. 

LXX

When you hold your lamp in the sky it throws its light on my faceand its shadow falls over you. 

When I hold the lamp of love in my heart its light falls on youand I am left standing behind in the shadow. 

LXXI

O the waves, the sky-devouring waves, glistening with light, dancing with life, the waves of eddying joy, rushing for ever. 

The stars rock upon them, thoughts of every tint are cast up outof the deep and scattered on the beach of life. 

Birth and death rise and fall with their rhythm, and the sea-gullof my heart spreads its wings crying in delight. 

LXXII

The joy ran from all the world to build my body. 

The lights of the skies kissed and kissed her till she woke. 

Flowers of hurrying summers sighed in her breath and voices ofwinds and water sang in her movements. 

The passion of the tide of colours in clouds and in forestsflowed into her life, and the music of all things caressed herlimbs into shape. 

She is my bride, --she has lighted her lamp in my house. 

LXXIII

The spring with its leaves and flowers has come into my body. 

The bees hum there the morning long, and the winds idly play withthe shadows. 

A sweet fountain springs up from the heart of my heart. 

My eyes are washed with delight like the dew-bathed morning, andlife is quivering in all my limbs like the sounding strings ofthe lute. 

Are you wandering alone by the shore of my life, where the tideis in flood, O lover of my endless days?

Are my dreams flitting round you like the moths with theirmany-coloured wings?

And are those your songs that are echoing in the dark eaves of mybeing?

Who but you can hear the hum of the crowded hours that sounds inmy veins to-day, the glad steps that dance in my breast, theclamour of the restless life beating its wings in my body?

LXXIV

My bonds are cut, my debts are paid, my door has been opened, Igo everywhere. 

They crouch in their corner and weave their web of pale hours, they count their coins sitting in the dust and call me back. 

But my sword is forged, my armour is put on, my horse is eager torun. 

I shall win my kingdom. 

LXXV

It was only the other day that I came to your earth, naked andnameless, with a wailing cry. 

To-day my voice is glad, while you, my lord, stand aside to makeroom that I may fill my life. 

Even when I bring you my songs for an offering I have the secrethope that men will come and love me for them. 

You love to discover that I love this world where you havebrought me. 

LXXVI

Timidly I cowered in the shadow of safety, but now, when thesurge of joy carries my heart upon its crest, my heart clings tothe cruel rock of its trouble. 

I sat alone in a corner of my house thinking it too narrow forany guest, but now when its door is flung open by an unbidden joyI find there is room for thee and for all the world. 

I walked upon tiptoe, careful of my person, perfumed, andadorned--but now when a glad whirlwind has overthrown me in thedust I laugh and roll on the earth at thy feet like a child. 

LXXVII

The world is yours at once and for ever. 

And because you have no want, my king, you have no pleasure inyour wealth. 

It is as though it were naught. Therefore through slow time yougive me what is yours, and ceaselessly win your kingdom in me. 

Day after day you buy your sunrise from my heart, and you findyour love carven into the image of my life. 

LXXVIII

To the birds you gave songs, the birds gave you songs in return. 

You gave me only voice, yet asked for more, and I sing. 

You made your winds light and they are fleet in their service. You burdened my hands that I myself may lighten them, and atlast, gain unburdened freedom for your service. 

You created your Earth filling its shadows with fragments oflight. 

There you paused; you left me empty-handed in the dust to createyour heaven. 

To all things else you give; from me you ask. 

The harvest of my life ripens in the sun and the shower till Ireap more than you sowed, gladdening your heart, O Master of thegolden granary. 

LXXIX

Let me not pray to be sheltered from dangers but to be fearlessin facing them. 

Let me not beg for the stilling of my pain but for the heart toconquer it. 

Let me not look for allies in life's battlefield but to my ownstrength. 

Let me not crave in anxious fear to be saved but hope for thepatience to win my freedom. 

Grant me that I may not be a coward, feeling your mercy in mysuccess alone; but let me find the grasp of your hand in myfailure. 

LXXX

You did not know yourself when you dwelt alone, and there was nocrying of an errand when the wind ran from the hither to thefarther shore. 

I came and you woke, and the skies blossomed with lights. 

You made me open in many flowers; rocked me in the cradles ofmany forms; hid me in death and found me again in life. 

I came and your heart heaved; pain came to you and joy. 

You touched me and tingled into love. 

But in my eyes there is a film of shame and in my breast aflicker of fear; my face is veiled and I weep when I cannot seeyou. 

Yet I know the endless thirst in your heart for sight of me, thethirst that cries at my door in the repeated knockings ofsunrise. 

LXXXI

You, in your timeless watch, listen to my approaching steps whileyour gladness gathers in the morning twilight and breaks in theburst of light. 

The nearer I draw to you the deeper grows the fervour in thedance of the sea. 

Your world is a branching spray of light filling your hands, butyour heaven is in my secret heart; it slowly opens its buds inshy love. 

LXXXII

I will utter your name, sitting alone among the shadows of mysilent thoughts. 

I will utter it without words, I will utter it without purpose. 

For I am like a child that calls its mother an hundred times, glad that it can say "Mother. "

LXXXIII

I

I feel that all the stars shine in me. The world breaks into mylife like a flood. 

The flowers blossom in my body. All the youthfulness of land andwater smokes like an incense in my heart; and the breath of allthings plays on my thoughts as on a flute. 

II

When the world sleeps I come to your door. 

The stars are silent, and I am afraid to sing. 

I wait and watch, till your shadow passes by the balcony of nightand I return with a full heart. 

Then in the morning I sing by the roadside;

The flowers in the hedge give me answer and the morning airlistens, The travellers suddenly stop and look in my face, thinking I havecalled them by their names. 

III

Keep me at your door ever attending to your wishes, and let me goabout in your Kingdom accepting your call. 

Let me not sink and disappear in the depth of languor. 

Let not my life be worn out to tatters by penury of waste. 

Let not those doubts encompass me, --the dust of distractions. 

Let me not pursue many paths to gather many things. 

Let me not bend my heart to the yoke of the many. 

Let me hold my head high in the courage and pride of being yourservant. 

LXXXIV

THE OARSMEN

 Do you hear the tumult of death afar, The call midst the fire-floods and poisonous clouds --The Captain's call to the steersman to turn the ship to an unnamed shore, For that time is over--the stagnant time in the port-- Where the same old merchandise is bought and sold in an endless round, Where dead things drift in the exhaustion and emptiness of truth. 

 They wake up in sudden fear and ask, "Comrades, what hour has struck? When shall the dawn begin?" The clouds have blotted away the stars-- Who is there then can see the beckoning finger of the day? They run out with oars in hand, the beds are emptied, the mother prays, the wife watches by the door; There is a wail of parting that rises to the sky, And there is the Captain's voice in the dark: "Come, sailors, for the time in the harbour is over!"

 All the black evils in the world have overflowed their banks, Yet, oarsmen, take your places with the blessing of sorrow in your souls! Whom do you blame, brothers? Bow your heads down! The sin has been yours and ours. The heat growing in the heart of God for ages-- The cowardice of the weak, the arrogance of the strong, the greed of fat prosperity, the rancour of the wronged, pride of race, and insult to man-- Has burst God's peace, raging in storm. 

 Like a ripe pod, let the tempest break its heart into pieces, scattering thunders. Stop your bluster of dispraise and of self-praise, And with the calm of silent prayer on your foreheads sail to that unnamed shore. 

 We have known sins and evils every day and death we have known; They pass over our world like clouds mocking us with their transient lightning laughter. Suddenly they have stopped, become a prodigy, And men must stand before them saying: "We do not fear you, O Monster! for we have lived every day by conquering you, "And we die with the faith that Peace is true, and Good is true, and true is the eternal One!"

 If the Deathless dwell not in the heart of death, If glad wisdom bloom not bursting the sheath of sorrow, If sin do not die of its own revealment, If pride break not under its load of decorations, Then whence comes the hope that drives these men from their homes like stars rushing to their death in the morning light? Shall the value of the martyrs' blood and mothers' tears be utterly lost in the dust of the earth, not buying Heaven with their price? And when Man bursts his mortal bounds, is not the Boundless revealed that moment?

LXXXV

THE SONG OF THE DEFEATED

My Master has bid me while I stand at the roadside, to sing thesong of Defeat, for that is the bride whom He woos in secret. 

She has put on the dark veil, hiding her face from the crowd, butthe jewel glows on her breast in the dark. 

She is forsaken of the day, and God's night is waiting for herwith its lamps lighted and flowers wet with dew. 

She is silent with her eyes downcast; she has left her homebehind her, from her home has come that wailing in the wind. 

But the stars are singing the love-song of the eternal to a facesweet with shame and suffering. 

The door has been opened in the lonely chamber, the call hassounded, and the heart of the darkness throbs with awe because ofthe coming tryst. 

LXXXVI

THANKSGIVING

Those who walk on the path of pride crushing the lowly life undertheir tread, covering the tender green of the earth with theirfootprints in blood;

Let them rejoice, and thank thee, Lord, for the day is theirs. 

But I am thankful that my lot lies with the humble who suffer andbear the burden of power, and hide their faces and stifle theirsobs in the dark. 

For every throb of their pain has pulsed in the secret depth ofthy night, and every insult has been gathered into thy greatsilence. And the morrow is theirs. 

O Sun, rise upon the bleeding hearts blossoming in flowers of themorning, and the torchlight revelry of pride shrunken to ashes. 

THE END