The Gardener 63
Traveller, must you go?The night is still and the darkness swoons upon the forest.The lamps are bright in our balcony, the flowers all fresh, andthe youthful eyes still awake.Is the time for your parting come?Traveller, must you go?
We have not bound your feet with our entreating arms.Your doors are open. Your horse stands saddled at the gate.If we have tried to bar your passage it was but with our songs.Did we ever try to hold you back it was but with our eyes.Traveller, we are helpless to keep you. We have only our tears.
What quenchless fire glows in your eyes?What restless fever runs in your blood?What call from the dark urges you?What awful incantation have you read among the stars in the sky,that with a sealed secret message the night entered your heart,silent and strange?
If you do not care for merry meetings, if you must have peace,weary heart, we shall put our lamps out and silence our harps.We shall sit still in the dark in the rustle of leaves, and thetired moon will shed pale rays on your window.O traveller, what sleepless spirit has touched you from the heartof the mid-night?
Words in this poem
- saddled a.
- Having a broad patch of color across the back, like a saddle; saddle-backed.
- quenchless a.
- Incapable of being quenched; inextinguishable; as, quenchless fire or fury.
- 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,]
- rustle v. i.
- To make a quick succession of small sounds, like the rubbing or moving of silk cloth or dry leaves. [AS. hristlan to rustle; or cf. Sw. rusta to stir, make a riot, or E. rush, v.]
- sleepless a.
- Having no sleep; wakeful.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Gardener 63 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 63, in The Gardener (1913), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6686, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/tagore-gardener/poem-63.html, id L27699.
About this section
The Gardener 63 is prose, printed in 4 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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