Gitanjali 50
I had gone a-begging from door to door in the village path, when thygolden chariot appeared in the distance like a gorgeous dream and Iwondered who was this King of all kings!
My hopes rose high and methought my evil days were at an end, and Istood waiting for alms to be given unasked and for wealth scattered onall sides in the dust.
The chariot stopped where I stood. Thy glance fell on me and thoucamest down with a smile. I felt that the luck of my life had come atlast. Then of a sudden thou didst hold out thy right hand and say “Whathast thou to give to me?”
Ah, what a kingly jest was it to open thy palm to a beggar to beg! Iwas confused and stood undecided, and then from my wallet I slowly tookout the least little grain of corn and gave it to thee.
But how great my surprise when at the day’s end I emptied my bag on thefloor to find a least little gram of gold among the poor heap. Ibitterly wept and wished that I had had the heart to give thee my all.
Words in this poem
- gorgeous a.
- Imposing through splendid or various colors; showy; fine; magnificent. [OF. gorgias beautiful, glorious, vain, luxurious; cf. OF. gorgias ruff, neck handkerchief, and F. gorge throat, and se pengorger to assume airs. Cf. Gorge, n.]
- wondered a.
- Having performed wonders; able to perform wonderful things.
- wealth n.
- Weal; welfare; prosperity; good. [OE. welthe, from wele; cf. D. weelde luxury. See Weal prosperity.]
- didst
- , the 2d pers. sing. imp. of Do.
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- jest n.
- A deed; an action; a gest. [OE. jeste, geste, deed, action, story, tale, OF. geste, LL. gesta, orig., exploits, neut. pl. from L. gestus, p. p. of gerere to bear, carry, accomplish, perfor]
- bitterly adv.
- In a bitter manner.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Gitanjali 50 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 50, in Gitanjali (Song Offerings) (1912), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7164, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/tagore-gitanjali/poem-50.html, id L27912.
About this section
Gitanjali 50 is prose, printed in 5 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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