Gitanjali 31
“Prisoner, tell me, who was it that bound you?”
“It was my master,” said the prisoner. “I thought I could outdoeverybody in the world in wealth and power, and I amassed in my owntreasure-house the money due to my king. When sleep overcame me I layupon the bed that was for my lord, and on waking up I found I was aprisoner in my own treasure-house.”
“Prisoner, tell me, who was it that wrought this unbreakable chain?”
“It was I,” said the prisoner, “who forged this chain very carefully. Ithought my invincible power would hold the world captive leaving me ina freedom undisturbed. Thus night and day I worked at the chain withhuge fires and cruel hard strokes. When at last the work was done andthe links were complete and unbreakable, I found that it held me in itsgrip.”
Words in this poem
- outdo v. t.
- To go beyond in performance; to excel; to surpass.
- wealth n.
- Weal; welfare; prosperity; good. [OE. welthe, from wele; cf. D. weelde luxury. See Weal prosperity.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Gitanjali 31 is in the public domain. This text is taken from Gitanjali (Song Offerings), a collection of prose translations made by the author from the original Bengali, with an introduction by W. B. Yeats (India Society, London, 1912), Project Gutenberg ebook #7164; 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, Gitanjali 31, in Gitanjali (Song Offerings) (1912), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7164, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/tagore-gitanjali/poem-31.html, id L27893.
About this section
Gitanjali 31 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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