Gitanjali 80

Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941) · 1912

10 lines · from Gitanjali (Song Offerings)

I am like a remnant of a cloud of autumn uselessly roaming in the sky,O my sun ever-glorious! Thy touch has not yet melted my vapour, makingme one with thy light, and thus I count months and years separated fromthee.

If this be thy wish and if this be thy play, then take this fleetingemptiness of mine, paint it with colours, gild it with gold, float iton the wanton wind and spread it in varied wonders.

And again when it shall be thy wish to end this play at night, I shallmelt and vanish away in the dark, or it may be in a smile of the whitemorning, in a coolness of purity transparent.

Words in this poem

glorious a.
Exhibiting attributes, qualities, or acts that are worthy of or receive glory; noble; praiseworthy; excellent; splendid; illustrious; inspiring admiration; as, glorious deeds. [OF. glorios, glorious, F. glorieux, fr. L. gloriosus. See Glory, n.]
vapour n.
Any substance in the gaseous, or aëriform, state, the condition of which is ordinarily that of a liquid or solid. [OE. vapour, OF. vapour, vapor, vapeur, F. vapeur, L. vapor; probably for cvapor, and akin to Gr. kvepti to breathe, smell, Russ. kopote fine soot. Cf. Vapid.]
shall v. i.
To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]

Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.

About this text

Gitanjali 80 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 80, in Gitanjali (Song Offerings) (1912), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7164, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/tagore-gitanjali/poem-80.html, id L27942.

About this section

Gitanjali 80 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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