The Gardener 43
No, my friends, I shall never be an ascetic, whatever you may say.I shall never be an ascetic if she does not take the vow with me.It is my firm resolve that if I cannot find a shady shelter and acompanion for my penance, I shall never turn ascetic.
No, my friends, I shall never leave my hearth and home, and retireinto the forest solitude, if rings no merry laughter in itsechoing shade and if the end of no saffron mantle flutters in thewind; if its silence is not deepened by soft whispers.I shall never be an ascetic.
Words in this poem
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- ascetic a.
- Extremely rigid in self-denial and devotions; austere; severe.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Gardener 43 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 43, in The Gardener (1913), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6686, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/tagore-gardener/poem-43.html, id L27679.
About this section
The Gardener 43 is prose, printed in 2 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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