The Gardener 11
Come as you are; do not loiter over your toilet.If your braided hair has loosened, if the parting of your hair benot straight, if the ribbons of your bodice be not fastened, donot mind.Come as you are; do not loiter over your toilet.
Come, with quick steps over the grass.If the raddle come from your feet because of the dew, if the ringsof bells upon your feet slacken, if pearls drop out of your chain,do not mind.Come with quick steps over the grass.
Do you see the clouds wrapping the sky?Flocks of cranes fly up from the further river-bank and fitfulgusts of wind rush over the heath.The anxious cattle run to their stalls in the village.Do you see the clouds wrapping the sky?
In vain you light your toilet lamp--it flickers and goes out in the wind.Who can know that your eyelids have not been touched with lamp-black? For your eyes are darker than rain-clouds.In vain you light your toilet lamp--it goes out.
Come as you are; do not loiter over your toilet.If the wreath is not woven, who cares; if the wrist-chain has notbeen linked, let it be.The sky is overcast with clouds--it is late.Come as you are; do not loiter over your toilet.
Words in this poem
- bodice n.
- A kind of under waist stiffened with whalebone, etc., worn esp. by women; a corset; stays. [This is properly the plural of body, Oe. bodise a pair of bodies, equiv. to a bodice. Cf. Corset, and see Body.]
- raddle n.
- A long, flexible stick, rod, or branch, which is interwoven with others, between upright posts or stakes, in making a kind of hedge or fence. [Cf. G. räder, rädel, sieve, or perhaps E. reed.]
- fitful a.
- Full of fits; irregularly variable; impulsive and unstable. [From 7th Fit.]
- overcast v. t.
- To cast or cover over; hence, to cloud; to darken.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Gardener 11 is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Gardener, translated by the author from the original Bengali (Macmillan, London and New York, 1913; this text the 1915 printing), Project Gutenberg ebook #6686; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Rabindranath Tagore, The Gardener 11, in The Gardener (1913), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6686, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/tagore-gardener/poem-11.html, id L27647.
About this section
The Gardener 11 is prose, printed in 5 paragraphs. It is part of the edition and is kept for reading, but nothing here is measured: the line breaks are the printer's, so no metre, rhyme scheme or scansion is stated.
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