The Gardener 66
A wandering madman was seeking the touchstone, with matted lockstawny and dust-laden, and body worn to a shadow, his lipstight-pressed, like the shut-up doors of his heart, his burningeyes like the lamp of a glow-worm seeking its mate.
Before him the endless ocean roared.The garrulous waves ceaselessly talked of hidden treasures,mocking the ignorance that knew not their meaning.Maybe he now had no hope remaining, yet he would not rest, for thesearch had become his life,--Just as the ocean for ever lifts its arms to the sky for the unattainable--Just as the stars go in circles, yet seeking a goal that can never be reached--Even so on the lonely shore the madman with dusty tawny locksstill roamed in search of the touchstone.
One day a village boy came up and asked, "Tell me, where did youcome at this golden chain about your waist?"The madman started--the chain that once was iron was verily gold;it was not a dream, but he did not know when it had changed.He struck his forehead wildly--where, O where had he withoutknowing it achieved success?It had grown into a habit, to pick up pebbles and touch the chain,and to throw them away without looking to see if a change hadcome; thus the madman found and lost the touchstone.The sun was sinking low in the west, the sky was of gold.The madman returned on his footsteps to seek anew the losttreasure, with his strength gone, his body bent, and his heart inthe dust, like a tree uprooted.
Words in this poem
- touchstone n.
- Lydian stone; basanite; -- so called because used to test the purity of gold and silver by the streak which is left upon the stone when it is rubbed by the metal. See Basanite.
- garrulous a.
- Talking much, especially about commonplace or trivial things; talkative; loquacious. [L. garrulus, fr. garrire to chatter, talk; cf. Gr. Call.]
- maybe adv.
- Perhaps; possibly; peradventure. [For it may be.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Gardener 66 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 66, in The Gardener (1913), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6686, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/tagore-gardener/poem-66.html, id L27702.
About this section
The Gardener 66 is prose, printed in 3 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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