Gitanjali 43
The day was when I did not keep myself in readiness for thee; andentering my heart unbidden even as one of the common crowd, unknown tome, my king, thou didst press the signet of eternity upon many afleeting moment of my life.
And today when by chance I light upon them and see thy signature, Ifind they have lain scattered in the dust mixed with the memory of joysand sorrows of my trivial days forgotten.
Thou didst not turn in contempt from my childish play among dust, andthe steps that I heard in my playroom are the same that are echoingfrom star to star.
Words in this poem
- unbidden a.
- Not bidden; not commanded.
- didst
- , the 2d pers. sing. imp. of Do.
- signet n.
- A seal; especially, in England, the seal used by the sovereign in sealing private letters and grants that pass by bill under the sign manual; -- called also privy signet. [OF. signet a signet, F., a bookmark, dim. of signe. See Sign, n., and cf. Sennet.]
- trivial a.
- Found anywhere; common. [L. trivialis, properly, that is in, or belongs to, the crossroads or public streets; hence, that may be found everywhere, common, fr. trivium a place where thre]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Gitanjali 43 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 43, in Gitanjali (Song Offerings) (1912), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7164, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/tagore-gitanjali/poem-43.html, id L27905.
About this section
Gitanjali 43 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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