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 baskets
into your courtyard, though some are lost and some not ripe.

For the season grows heavy with its fulness, and there is a
plaintive 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 into
murmurs.

The garden has yielded its all, and in the weary hour of evening
the call comes from your house on the shore in the sunset.


II

My life when young was like a flower - a flower that loosens a
petal or two from her abundance and never feels the loss when the
spring breeze comes to beg at her door.

Now at the end of youth my life is like a fruit, having nothing
to spare, and waiting to offer herself completely with her full
burden of sweetness.


III

Is summer's festival only for fresh blossoms and not also for
withered 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 there
are patient clods waiting to be touched by his feet.

Few are the wise and the great who sit by my Master, but he has
taken 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 not
trouble 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 will
spread it on my lap and stay silent.

The rustling leaves will read it aloud to me, the rushing stream
will chant it, and the seven wise stars will sing it to me from
the sky.

I cannot find what I seek, I cannot understand what I would
learn; but this unread letter has lightened my burdens and turned
my thoughts into songs.


V

A handful of dust could hide your signal when I did not know its
meaning.

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 their
foam; hills hold it high on their summits.

I had my face turned from you, therefore I read the letters awry
and 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, by
the flowers of the wayfaring seasons.

And I ask my heart if its blood carries the wisdom of the unseen
way.


VII

Alas, I cannot stay in the house, and home has become no home to
me, 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 and
doubts to follow the homeless tide, for the Stranger calls me, he
is going along the road.


VIII

Be ready to launch forth, my heart! and let those linger who
must.

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 blown
flower 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 that
feeds 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 of
everlasting youth; I throw away all that is not one with my life
nor as light as my laughter.

I run through time and, O my heart, in your chariot dances the
poet who sings while he wanders.


X

You took my hand and drew me to your side, made me sit on the
high seat before all men, till I became timid, unable to stir and
walk my own way; doubting and debating at every step lest I
should tread upon any thorn of their disfavour.

I am freed at last!

The blow has come, the drum of insult sounded, my seat is laid
low 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 the
profound shadow.

I am like the storm-driven cloud of summer that, having cast off
its crown of gold, hangs as a sword the thunderbolt upon a chain
of lightning.

In desperate joy I run upon the dusty path of the despised; I
draw 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 am
free 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 to
tear 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 on
my neck.


XII

Far below flowed the Jumna, swift and clear, above frowned the
jutting bank.

Hills dark with the woods and scarred with the torrents were
gathered around.

Govinda, the great Sikh teacher, sat on the rock reading
scriptures, when Raghunath, his disciple, proud of his wealth,
caine and bowed to him and said, "I have brought my poor present
unworthy of your acceptance."

[Transcriber's note: In the above verse, the word 'caine' does
not fit in, the word 'came' makes more sense]

Thus saying he displayed before the teacher a pair of gold
bangles wrought with costly stones.

The master took up one of them, twirling it round his finger, and
the diamonds darted shafts of light.

Suddenly it slipped from his hand and rolled down the bank into
the water.

"Alas," screamed Raghunath, and jumped into the stream.

The teacher set his eyes upon his book, and the water held and
hid what it stole and went its way.

The daylight faded when Raghunath came back to the teacher tired
and dripping.

He panted and said, "I can still get it back if you show me where
it fell."

The teacher took up the remaining bangle and throwing it into the
water 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 the
bank.

He spreads a reckless sail to the wind and rides the turbulent
water.

He who throws his doors open and steps onward receives your
greeting.

He does not stay to count his gain or to mourn his loss; his
heart beats the drum for his march, for that is to march with you
every 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 road
corner to be my guide.

I walk my own wilful way till my very folly tempts you to my
door.

For I have your promise that my portion of the best in this world
will 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 your
trees.

I know that my heart would open like a flower; that my life has
filled itself at a hidden fountain.

Your songs, like birds from the lonely land of snow, are winging
to 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, but
I 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 by
the lane.

I turned away in doubt, but you held me fast, and their scolding
became 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 its
silence, crying, "Light me, O Fire! for my earthen lamp lies
broken 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 it
blossom.

Your touch soils it, you tear its petals to pieces and strew them
in 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 the
wind.

Colours flush out like heart-longings, the perfume betrays a
sweet secret.

He who can open the bud does it so simply.


XIX

Sudâs, the gardener, plucked from his tank the last lotus left by
the ravage of winter and went to sell it to the king at the
palace gate.

There he met a traveller who said to him, "Ask your price for the
last lotus, - I shall offer it to Lord Buddha."

Sudâs said, "If you pay one golden mâshâ 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, "It
would be a fine thing to lay at his feet the lotus that bloomed
in winter."

When the gardener said he had been offered a golden mâshâ the
king offered him ten, but the traveller doubled the price.

The gardener, being greedy, imagined a greater gain from him for
whose sake they were bidding. He bowed and said, "I cannot sell
this lotus."

In the hushed shade of the mango grove beyond the city wall Sudâs
stood before Lord Buddha, on whose lips sat the silence of love
and whose eyes beamed peace like the morning star of the
dew-washed autumn.

Sudâs looked in his face and put the lotus at his feet and bowed
his head to the dust.

Buddha smiled and asked, "What is your wish, my son?"

Sudâs 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 noiselessly
from world to world, thou queen in the palace of time, thou
darkly beautiful!

Many a questioning mind has stealthily entered thy courtyard and
roamed through thy lampless house seeking for answers.

From many a heart, pierced with the arrow of joy from the hands
of the Unknown, have burst forth glad chants, shaking the
darkness to its foundation.

Those wakeful souls gaze in the starlight in wonder at the
treasure 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 my
life, though the days perplex my path with their idle dust.

I have known it in glimpses, and its fitful breath has come upon
me, making my thoughts fragrant for a while.

I will meet one day the Joy without me that dwells behind the
screen of light - and will stand in the overflowing solitude where
all things are seen as by their creator.


XXII

This autumn morning is tired with excess of light, and if your
songs grow fitful and languid give me your flute awhile.

I shall but play with it as the whim takes me, - now take it on my
lap, now touch it with my lips, now keep it by my side on the
grass.

But in the solemn evening stillness I shall gather flowers, to
deck it with wreaths, I shall fill it with fragrance; I shall
worship 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 lonely
crescent moon wanders among the stars.


XXIII

The poet's mind floats and dances on the waves of life amidst the
voices of wind and water.

Now when the sun has set and the darkened sky draws upon the sea
like drooping lashes upon a weary eye it is time to take away his
pen, and let his thoughts sink into the bottom of the deep amid
the eternal secret of that silence.


XXIV

The night is dark and your slumber is deep in the hush of my
being.

Wake, O Pain of Love, for I know not how to open the door, and I
stand outside.

The hours wait, the stars watch, the wind is still, the silence
is heavy in my heart.

Wake, Love, wake! brim my empty cup, and with a breath of song
ruffle the night.


XXV

The bird of the morning sings.

Whence has he word of the morning before the morning breaks, and
when the dragon night still holds the sky in its cold black
coils?

Tell me, bird of the morning, how, through the twofold night of
the sky and the leaves, he found his way into your dream, the
messenger out of the east?

The world did not believe you when you cried, "The sun is on his
way, the night is no more."

O sleeper, awake!

Bare your forehead, waiting for the first blessing of light, and
sing with the bird of the morning in glad faith.


XXVI

The beggar in me lifted his lean hands to the starless sky and
cried into night's ear with his hungry voice.

His prayers were to the blind Darkness who lay like a fallen god
in a desolate heaven of lost hopes.

The cry of desire eddied round a chasm of despair, a wailing bird
circling its empty nest.

But when morning dropped anchor at the rim of the East, the
beggar in me leapt and cried:

"Blessed am I that the deaf night denied me - that its coffer was
empty."

He cried, "O Life, O Light, you are precious! and precious is the
joy that at last has known you!"


XXVII

Sanâtan was telling his beads by the Ganges when a Brahmin in
rags came to him and said, "Help me, I am poor!"

"My alms-bowl is all that is my own," said Sanâtan, "I have given
away everything I had."

"But my lord Shiva came to me in my dreams," said the Brahmin,
"and counselled me to come to you."

Sanâtan suddenly remembered he had picked up a stone without
price among the pebbles on the river-bank, and thinking that some
one might need it hid it in the sands.

He pointed out the spot to the Brahmin, who wondering dug up the
stone.

The Brahmin sat on the earth and mused alone till the sun went
down behind the trees, and cowherds went home with their cattle.

Then he rose and came slowly to Sanâtan and said, "Master, give
me the least fraction of the wealth that disdains all the wealth
of the world."

And he threw the precious stone into the water.


XXVIII

Time after time I came to your gate with raised hands, asking for
more 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 my
hands; some I made into playthings and broke them when tired;
till the wrecks and the hoard of your gifts grew immense, hiding
you, 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 the
importunate watcher: hold my hands, raise me from the
still-gathering heap of your gifts into the bare infinity of
your 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 shall
stake myself, and then I think I shall have won through my utter
defeat.


XXX

A smile of mirth spread over the sky when you dressed my heart in
rags and sent her forth into the road to beg.

She went from door to door, and many a time when her bowl was
nearly full she was robbed.

At the end of the weary day she came to your palace gate holding
up her pitiful bowl, and you came and took her hand and seated
her 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.

Ratnâkar, the banker, hung his head and said, "Much more is
needed than all my wealth to feed the hungry."

Jaysen, the chief of the King's army, said, "I would gladly give
my life's blood, but there is not enough food in my house."

Dharmapâal, who owned broad acres of land, said with a sigh, "The
drought demon has sucked my fields dry. I know not how to pay
King's dues."

Then rose Supriyâ, 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 that
vow?"

"I am the poorest of you all," said Supriyâ, "that is my
strength. I have my coffer and my store at each of your houses."


XXXII

My king was unknown to me, therefore when he claimed his tribute
I 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 left
which is mine.

Now I wish to lay my all before his feet, and gain the right to
my place in his kingdom.


XXXIII

When I thought I would mould you, an image from my life for men
to worship, I brought my dust and desires and all my coloured
delusions and dreams.

When I asked you to mould with my life an image from your heart
for you to love, you brought your fire and force, and truth,
loveliness and peace.


XXXIV

"Sire," announced the servant to the King, "the saint Narottam
has 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, leaving
the golden jar of honey unheeded."

The King, vexed at heart, went to the spot where Narottam sat on
the grass.

He asked him, "Father, why leave my temple of the golden dome and
sit 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 gold
went to the making of that marvel of art, and it was consecrated
to God with costly rites?"

"Yes, I know it," answered Narottam. "It was in that year when
thousands of your people whose houses had been burned stood
vainly asking for help at your door.

"And God said, 'The poor creature who can give no shelter to his
brothers would build my house!'

"And he took his place with the shelterless under the trees by
the 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 my
God."


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 your
war-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, seeking
for a place of rest after the day's dusty toil: hoping my hurts
would be healed and the stains in my garment washed white, when I
found 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 when
suddenly 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 awakening
fly through the heart of night, and a thrill of dread shake
blindness and palsy.

I have come to raise thy trumpet from the dust.

Sleep is no more for me - my walk shall be through showers of
arrows.

Some shall run out of their houses and come to my side - some
shall 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, O
Beautiful, it made my heart sick.

I cried to thee and said, "Take thy rod of punishment and judge
them."

The morning light struck upon those eyes, red with the revel of
night; the place of the white lily greeted their burning breath;
the stars through the depth of the sacred dark stared at their
carousing - at those that raised dust to soil thy robe, O
Beautiful!

Thy judgment seat was in the flower garden, in the birds' notes
in springtime: in the shady river-banks, where the trees muttered
in 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 their
own desires.

When they had struck thee and thou wert pained, it pierced me to
the quick, and I cried to thee and said, "Take thy sword, O my
Lover, and judge them!"

Ah, but thy justice was vigilant.

A mother's tears were shed on their insolence; the imperishable
faith of a lover hid their spears of rebellion in its own wounds.

Thy judgment was in the mute pain of sleepless love: in the blush
of the chaste: in the tears of the night of the desolate: in the
pale morning-light of forgiveness.

O Terrible, they in their reckless greed climbed thy gate at
night, breaking into thy storehouse to rob thee.

But the weight of their plunder grew immense, too heavy to carry
or to remove.

Thereupon I cried to thee and said, Forgive them, O Terrible!

Thy forgiveness burst in storms, throwing them down, scattering
their 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 the
city wall of Mathura.

Lamps were all out, doors were all shut, and stars were all
hidden by the murky sky of August.

Whose feet were those tinkling with anklets, touching his breast
of a sudden?

He woke up startled, and the light from a woman's lamp struck his
forgiving eyes.

It was the dancing girl, starred with jewels, clouded with a
pale-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 to
my house. The dusty earth is not a fit bed for you."

The ascetic answered, "Woman, go on your way; when the time is
ripe I will come to you."

Suddenly the black night showed its teeth in a flash of
lightning.

The storm growled from the corner of the sky, and the woman
trembled in fear.

......

The branches of the wayside trees were aching with blossom.

Gay notes of the flute came floating in the warm spring air from
afar.

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 silent
town.

The young ascetic was walking in the lonely street, while
overhead the lovesick koels urged from the mango branches
their sleepless plaint.

Upagupta passed through the city gates, and stood at the base of
the rampart.

What woman lay in the shadow of the wall at his feet, struck with
the black pestilence, her body spotted with sores, hurriedly
driven away from the town?

The ascetic sat by her side, taking her head on his knees, and
moistened 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 of
storm, blowing out my lamp: dark doubts have gathered, blotting
out all stars from my sky.

Again and again the banks have burst, letting the flood sweep
away my harvest, and wailing and despair have rent my sky from
end 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 and
feeble 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 torch
is 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 fingers
across the harp-string, your dance music is beautiful.

When my days are ended and the gates are opened you will burn to
ashes this cordage of hands and feet.

My body will be one with you, my heart will be caught in the
whirls of your frenzy, and the burning heat that was my life will
flash 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 the
violent wind.

Stung with the night's fang the sky falls upon the sea, poisoned
with black fear.

The waves dash their heads against the dark unseen, and the
Boatman is out crossing the wild sea.

The Boatman is out, I know not for what tryst, startling the
night with the sudden white of his sails.

I know not at what shore, at last, he lands to reach the silent
courtyard where the lamp is burning and to find her who sits in
the dust and waits.

What is the quest that makes his boat care not for storm nor
darkness?

Is it heavy with gems and pearls?

Ah, no, the Boatman brings with him no treasure, but only a white
rose 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 wind
and hides her eyes.

The storm shrieks through her broken doors, the light flickers in
her earthen lamp flinging shadows on the walls.

Through the howl of the winds she hears him call her name, she
whose name is unknown.

It is long since the Boatman sailed. It will be long before the
day 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, and
the heart glad.

All doubts shall vanish in silence when the Boatman comes to the
shore.


XLII

I cling to this living raft, my body, in the narrow stream of my
earthly 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 the
dark.

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 Bimbisâr built a shrine, a
salutation in white marble.

There in the evening would come all the brides and daughters of
the King's house to offer flowers and light lamps.

When the son became king in his time he washed his father's creed
away 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 bathed
in holy water, and decked the golden tray with lamps and fresh
white blossoms, silently raised her dark eyes to the queen's
face.

The queen shuddered in fear and said, "Do you not know, foolish
girl, that death is the penalty for whoever brings worship to
Buddha's shrine?

"Such is the king's will."

Shrimati bowed to the queen, and turning away from her door came
and stood before Amitâ, the newly wed bride of the king's son.

A mirror of burnished gold on her lap, the newly wed bride was
braiding her dark long tresses and painting the red spot of good
luck 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 Shuklâ sat at the window reading her book of romance by
the light of the setting sun.

She started when she saw at her door the maid with the sacred
offerings.

Her book fell down from her lap, and she whispered in Shrimati's
ears, "Rush not to death, daring woman!"

Shrimati walked from door to door. She raised her head and
cried, "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 the
palace tower.

Deep shadows settled in street corners: the bustle of the city
was hushed: the gong at the temple of Shiva announced the time of
the evening prayer.

In the dark of the autumn evening, deep as a limpid lake, stars
throbbed with light, when the guards of the palace garden were
startled to see through the trees a row of lamps burning at the
shrine 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 Lord
Buddha."

The next moment her heart's blood coloured the cold marble with
its red.

And in the still hour of stars died the light of the last lamp of
worship at the foot of the shrine.


XLIV

The day that stands between you and me makes her last bow of
farewell.

The night draws her veil over her face, and hides the one lamp
burning in my chamber.

Your dark servant comes noiselessly and spreads the bridal carpet
for you to take your seat there alone with me in the wordless
silence 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 crowded
joys.

Draw a veil over this naked light, beckon aside from me this
glaring flash and dance of life.

Let the mantle of tender darkness cover me in its folds, and
cover 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 thy
arms: and to thee I bring my gratitude and my gifts that were for
her.

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 in
bud when she waited for them to open.


XLVII

I found a few old letters of mine carefully hidden in her box - a
few small toys for her memory to play with.

With a timorous heart she tried to steal these trifles from
time's turbulent stream, and said, "These are mine only!"

Ah, there is no one now to claim them, who can pay their price
with 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 such
fond care.


XLVIII

Bring beauty and order into my forlorn life, woman, as you
brought 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 let
us 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 in
beauty what you had in your mind through those pitiless days.

The waning night lingers at my doors, let her take her leave in
songs.

Pour your heart into my life strings, my Master, in tunes that
descend from your stars.


L

In the lightning flash of a moment I have seen the immensity of
your creation in my life - creation through many a death from
world to world.

I weep at my unworthiness when I see my life in the hands of the
unmeaning hours, - but when I see it in your hands I know it is
too precious to be squandered among shadows.


LI

I know that at the dim end of some day the sun will bid me its
farewell.

Shepherds will play their pipes beneath the banyan trees, and
cattle graze on the slope by the river, while my days will pass
into the dark.

This is my prayer, that I may know before I leave why the earth
called me to her arms.

Why her night's silence spoke to me of stars, and her daylight
kissed my thoughts into flower.

Before I go may I linger over my last refrain, completing its
music, may the lamp be lit to see your face and the wreath woven
to 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 in
terror when it returns into the dark.

But the play is the same that comes and goes with the rhythm of
the endless music.

You hide your treasure in the palm of your hand, and we cry that
we are robbed.

But open and shut your palm as you will, the gain and the loss
are 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 wrapt
it within my heart in numberless folds; I have flooded its days
and nights with thoughts till the world and my life have grown
one, - and I love my life because I love the light of the sky so
enwoven with me.

If to leave this world be as real as to love it - then there must
be a meaning in the meeting and the parting of life.

If that love were deceived in death, then the canker of this
deceit would eat into all things, and the stars would shrivel and
grow black.


LIV

The Cloud said to me, "I vanish"; the Night said, "I plunge into
the 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 the
Ganges, in that lonely spot where they burn their dead.

He found a woman sitting at the feet of the corpse of her dead
husband, 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 this
earth 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 every
day and gave her high thoughts to think, till her heart was
filled 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 great
mystery of the woman that there is in the heart of creation.

She who is ever returning to God his own outflowing of
sweetness; she is the ever fresh beauty and youth in nature; she
dances in the bubbling streams and sings in the morning light;
she with heaving waves suckles the thirsty earth; in her the
Eternal One breaks in two in a joy that no longer may contain
itself, 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 wreaths
and 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 fan
gem-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 end
of the earth.

Conquered hearts bowed down at her feet, and shouts of applause
rang in the sky.

Pride shone in her eyes for a moment, then it was dimmed in
tears.

"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 I
know not, and be known to me for ever?"


LVIII

Yours is the light that breaks forth from the dark, and the good
that sprouts from the cleft heart of strife.

Yours is the house that opens upon the world, and the love that
calls 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 are
there for me, you are there for all.


LIX

When the weariness of the road is upon me, and the thirst of the
sultry day; when the ghostly hours of the dusk throw their
shadows across my life, then I cry not for your voice only, my
friend, but for your touch.

There is an anguish in my heart for the burden of its riches not
given to you.

Put out your hand through the night, let me hold it and fill it
and keep it; let me feel its touch along the lengthening stretch
of my loneliness.


LX

The odour cries in the bud, "Ah me, the day departs, the happy
day of spring, and I am a prisoner in petals!"

Do not lose heart, timid thing! Your bonds will burst, the bud
will 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, the
hours pass by, yet I do not know where I go, or what it is I
seek!"

Do not lose heart, timid thing! The spring breeze has overheard
your desire, the day will not end before you have fulfilled your
being.

Dark is the future to her, and the odour cries in despair, "Ah
me, through whose fault is my life so unmeaning?

"Who can tell me, why I am at all?" Do not lose heart, timid
thing! The perfect dawn is near when you will mingle your life
with 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 a
plaything as well.

She heeds not when her hair tumbles down and her careless garment
drags in the dust.

She falls asleep when you speak to her and answers not - and the
flower you give her in the morning slips to the dust from her
hands.

When the storm bursts and darkness is over the sky she is
sleepless; her dolls lie scattered on the earth and she clings to
you in terror.

She is afraid that she may fail in service to you.

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