Gitanjali 42
Early in the day it was whispered that we should sail in a boat, onlythou and I, and never a soul in the world would know of this ourpilgrimage to no country and to no end.
In that shoreless ocean, at thy silently listening smile my songs wouldswell in melodies, free as waves, free from all bondage of words.
Is the time not come yet? Are there works still to do? Lo, the eveninghas come down upon the shore and in the fading light the seabirds comeflying to their nests.
Who knows when the chains will be off, and the boat, like the lastglimmer of sunset, vanish into the night?
Words in this poem
- pilgrimage n.
- The journey of a pilgrim; a long journey; especially, a journey to a shrine or other sacred place. Fig., the journey of human life. [OE. pilgrimage, pelgrinage; cf. F. pèlerinage.]
- shoreless a.
- Having no shore or coast; of indefinite or unlimited extent; as, a shoreless ocean. Young.
- fading n.
- An Irish dance; also, the burden of a song.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Gitanjali 42 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 42, in Gitanjali (Song Offerings) (1912), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7164, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/tagore-gitanjali/poem-42.html, id L27904.
About this section
Gitanjali 42 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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