The Gardener 53
Why do you put me to shame with a look?I have not come as a beggar.Only for a passing hour I stood at the end of your courtyardoutside the garden hedge.Why do you put me to shame with a look?
Not a rose did I gather from your garden, not a fruit did I pluck.I humbly took my shelter under the wayside shade where everystrange traveller may stand.Not a rose did I pluck.
Yes, my feet were tired, and the shower of rain come down.The winds cried out among the swaying bamboo branches.The clouds ran across the sky as though in the flight from defeat.My feet were tired.
I know not what you thought of me or for whom you were waiting at your door.Flashes of lightning dazzled your watching eyes.How could I know that you could see me where I stood in the dark?I know not what you thought of me.
The day is ended, and the rain has ceased for a moment.I leave the shadow of the tree at the end of your garden and thisseat on the grass.It has darkened; shut your door; I go my way.The day is ended.
Words in this poem
- humbly adv.
- With humility; lowly.
- wayside n.
- The side of the way; the edge or border of a road or path.
- defeat v. t.
- To undo; to disfigure; to destroy. [From F. défait, OF. desfait, p. p. ofe défaire, OF. desfaire, to undo; L. dis- + facere to do. See Feat, Fact, and cf. Disfashion.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Gardener 53 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 53, in The Gardener (1913), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6686, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/tagore-gardener/poem-53.html, id L27689.
About this section
The Gardener 53 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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