Rabindranath Tagore
Posted in Literature, Poetry, and Books by Peter W. Schramm
The Bengali poet, Rabindranath Tagore, a favorite of Yeats, is considered in
this review of a new collection of Tagore's work. I have read the paper version, and it is worth the reading (the on-line is only accessible to paid subscribers of
TNR. That Tagore is disputed by various political factions, here and there, is not relevant. He is worth reading. Here is one I like, "A Moment's Indulgence":
I ask for a moment's indulgence to sit by thy side. The works
that I have in hand I will finish afterwards.
Away from the sight of thy face my heart knows no rest nor respite,
and my work becomes an endless toil in a shoreless sea of toil.
Today the summer has come at my window with its sighs and murmurs; and
the bees are plying their minstrelsy at the court of the flowering grove.
Now it is time to sit quite, face to face with thee, and to sing
dedication of life in this silent and overflowing leisure.
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Thank you, that is lovely. PoetryHunter.com claims to have all of his poems, here: https://www.poemhunter.com/rabindranath-tagore/
Of course, the reference to Yeats meant I had to go look at him, too, one I only almost remembered.
MEN IMPROVE WITH THE YEARS
by: W. B. Yeats (1865-1939)
AM worn out with dreams;
A weather-worn, marble triton
Among the streams;
And all day long I look
Upon this lady's beauty
As though I had found in a book
A pictured beauty,
Pleased to have filled the eyes
Or the discerning ears,
Delighted to be but wise,
For men improve with the years;
And yet, and yet,
Is this my dream, or the truth?
O would that we had met
When I had my burning youth!
But I grow old among dreams,
A weather-worn, marble triton
Among the streams.