Gitanjali 77
I know thee as my God and stand apart—I do not know thee as my own andcome closer. I know thee as my father and bow before thy feet—I do notgrasp thy hand as my friend’s.
I stand not where thou comest down and ownest thyself as mine, there toclasp thee to my heart and take thee as my comrade.
Thou art the Brother amongst my brothers, but I heed them not, I dividenot my earnings with them, thus sharing my all with thee.
In pleasure and in pain I stand not by the side of men, and thus standby thee. I shrink to give up my life, and thus do not plunge into thegreat waters of life.
Words in this poem
- closer n.
- One who, or that which, closes; specifically, a boot closer. See under Boot.
- amongst prep.
- Mixed or mingled; surrounded by. [OE. amongist, amonges, amonge, among, AS. onmang, ongemang, gemang, in a crowd or mixture. For the ending -st see Amidst. See Mingle.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Gitanjali 77 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 77, in Gitanjali (Song Offerings) (1912), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7164, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/tagore-gitanjali/poem-77.html, id L27939.
About this section
Gitanjali 77 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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