Rabidranath Tagore
5:11:00 PM
Have you heard of him? During my education, on literature classes, we mostly read European and Serbian writers and poets, so i remember how happy i was when we read some of his poems in class. I would say he’s my favorite Indian poet, but sadly i don’t know any other but him.
What are your favorite writers / poets? Let me know in the comments!
P.S. Many of you asked me when i will post the next part of this story. I figured out i could post it every other Friday, so Part 2 is coming on 25.09.2016. x
“I seem to have loved you in numberless forms, numberless times…
In life after life, in age after age, forever.
My spellbound heart has made and remade the necklace of songs,
That you take as a gift, wear round your neck in your many forms,
In life after life, in age after age, forever.
Whenever I hear old chronicles of love, its age-old pain,
Its ancient tale of being apart or together.
As I stare on and on into the past, in the end you emerge,
Clad in the light of a pole-star piercing the darkness of time:
You become an image of what is remembered forever.
You and I have floated here on the stream that brings from the fount.
At the heart of time, love of one for another.
We have played along side millions of lovers, shared in the same
Shy sweetness of meeting, the same distressful tears of farewell-
Old love but in shapes that renew and renew forever.
Today it is heaped at your feet, it has found its end in you
The love of all man’s days both past and forever:
Universal joy, universal sorrow, universal life.
The memories of all loves merging with this one love of ours –
And the songs of every poet past and forever.”
“Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky.”
“You can’t cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water.”
“If you cry because the sun has gone out of your life, your tears will prevent you from seeing the stars.”
“Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;
Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection:
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is lead forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action–
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.”
“Reach high, for stars lie hidden in you. Dream deep, for every dream precedes the goal.”
“Don’t limit a child to your own learning, for she was born in another time.”
“It is very simple to be happy, but it is very difficult to be simple.”
“I know that the day will come
when my sight of this earth shall be lost,
and life will take its leave in silence,
drawing the last curtain over my eyes.
Yet stars will watch at night,
and morning rise as before,
and hours heave like sea waves casting up pleasures and pains.
When I think of this end of my moments,
the barrier of the moments breaks
and I see by the light of death
thy world with its careless treasures.
Rare is its lowliest seat,
rare is its meanest of lives.
Things that I longed for in vain
and things that I got
—let them pass.
Let me but truly possess
the things that I ever spurned
and overlooked.“
“Let your life lightly dance on the edges of
Time like dew on the tip of a leaf.”
“If I can’t make it through one door, I’ll go through another door- or i’ll make a door. Something terrific will come no matter how dark the present.”
“Everything comes to us that belongs to us if we create the capacity to receive it.”
P.S. Picture doesn't really have any connection to the post, i just like this shot of mine. I think its atmosphere kinda fits the poems. Or at least that's what i've been telling myself.
Similar posts: Charles Bukowski • Edgar Allan Poe
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50 comments
my favourite poem is 'green, like it green' F.G.Lorka
ReplyDeleteIsn't it "Green, i love you, green"? :)
DeleteAnyway, love that poem! It sounds beautiful in Spanish
great read on this post, poems like this live forever green in ones memory, not much of a poem person but this got me reading and singing all through.
ReplyDeleteGlad you like it :)
DeleteI don't have a favorite poem or poet. Not a poetry person, but I did like reading your blog post and I will remember those last couple of lines you wrote. Very nice.
ReplyDeleteThanks x
DeleteI love this, thanks for sharing, I really wanted to have a starting point to discover a bit of Indian poetry.
ReplyDeleteI adore Erich Fried, some poems by Christina Rossetti but also Brecht ��
Iris
Thank you! I haven't read anything by those poets, will google them now x
DeleteI love his work. He wrote our national anthem (Indian). In my school life I have read books about him. #respect. Love the article
ReplyDelete:)
DeleteI love the poem, thank you for sharing! But there are so many writers, poets, I admire and/or like reading, it would be too difficult to choose. For example, I like Bruno Schulz because when he described smells, flavours, etc. I can almost feel them. I love vivid comparisons and characters by J.K. Rowling. Or Poe's 'acuteness', if you know what I mean. Then, I really like quite a few travel writers from NY Times for their truly engaging style. I love the mood in James Joyce's books/poems. I'm fond of Scandinavian writers in general. And you, have you found 'the one'? :)
ReplyDeleteNope, i love many poems and writers too. But if i HAD TO choose only one, it would be Meša Selimović. He writes so beautifully, in a simple way but what he writes about is really deep and i relate so much.
DeleteI haven´t heard about him yet but now I can tell it´s a really talented person. ʕ•͡ᴥ•ʔ
ReplyDelete* Le blog de la Licorne *
He is :)
DeleteI didn't know this poem. I don't know the poet either. But this one is great. I have some favorite poems/ poets But they're dutch. So I don't know if you'll be able to read them. I'll translate a rather shot one I like:
ReplyDeleteI can bear it all,
the withering of the beans,
dying flowers, the corner
with potatoes I can see it grub
with dry eyes, I'm
really hard.
But young lettuce in September
just planted, still limp
In wet beds, no.
Nice, thanks for sharing xx
DeleteSuch a beautiful poem - and I honestly am not the biggest fan of poetry :)
ReplyDeleteThat's ok, we all like different things :)
DeleteI'm so not just to poetry but I really want to be!! This post was lovely to read 😄 ree love30
ReplyDeletePoetry is one of the best forms of writing or art. Expressing your emotions through poetry is just more touching and heartfelt! I've never heard of your favorite poet, but it's nice that you're inspired by him. I love your writing.
ReplyDeleteThank you x
DeleteWhen I was in elementary school, I remember composing a few poems. It didn't last long though. I think it was more like I was playing around with words that rhyme. Decades later, I write, yes. Poems, no. I think the only poem I remember was about dreams and the other one about a tree (Edgar Allan Poe)?
ReplyDeleteI used to write poems in elementary school too, i even got a few awards haha. But i don't think i'm really talented for it
DeleteI like poems we all should invest more time in cultural treasures like poems!
ReplyDeleteI agree!
DeleteI'm a literature buff! You certainly have to read ancient Chinese literature, too. Try the Red Chamber, or poems by Li or Po. They are great, with lots of meaning and symbolisms to interpret! With regards to Indian literature, there's the collection of fables called Panchatantra! There are lots to interpret there, too. Nice verses you've picked! I particularly liked "“If you cry because the sun has gone out of your life, your tears will prevent you from seeing the stars.” By the way, I think you misspelled his name -- it's Rabindranath, not Rabidranath. Would love to read more literary posts from you! Cheers! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the recommendations! <3 I wanted to start exploring Asian literature for a while now but didn't know where to start.
DeleteAlso thank you for the correction, Indian names are not familiar to me so it's possible that i made a mistake :)
I love this poem, such an inspiration! Have you also read Japanese Haiku?
ReplyDeleteI read few of them but i'm planning on reading more of them :) Can you recommend me some of your favorite haiku or haiku writers? x
DeleteLove this line. “Everything comes to us that belongs to us if we create the capacity to receive it.”
ReplyDeleteMe too, i really makes you think :)
DeleteI have come across a few of pieces of Rabidranathe Tagore work when I was a school many years ago.
ReplyDelete:)
DeleteIve never heard of him before! I don't really have a favorite poet but one of my favorite authors is Paulo Coelho.
ReplyDeleteI used to love Paulo Coelho when i was younger :)
DeleteI absolutely love this one: “If I can’t make it through one door, I’ll go through another door- or i’ll make a door. Something terrific will come no matter how dark the present.” It's a great motivational poem for sure. There's a lot of poets and writers I love...too many to name lol (i.e Austen, Steinbeck, etc)
ReplyDeleteI agree, it's really motivational :)
DeleteI'm not a poetry person but I have composed one or two long before. But now, I do try writing poems so I could practice calligraphy. I listen more to spoken poetry/spoken word because I easily feel the emotions depending on how it is being performed either by the author or someone else. But reading posts like this makes me appreciate poetry more. :)
ReplyDeleteI like listening to poetry too, specially if the actor who's reading it is good, but if he's bad that can really ruin the impression :/
DeleteI'm a sucker for prose and poetry. Thank you for sharing this! It's so heartfelt and it seems so sincere. Definitely looking for more of his works.
ReplyDeleteMe too! I love prose more though, but i also really really love poetry
DeleteNever heard of him but this work is reallt enticing. Googling him now to check out his other works.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad :) His poems are really beautiful
DeleteSame! Thank you for stopping by :)
ReplyDeleteI read poets too seldom! Should look for them much more often. Poets are so special and you need to read them slowly with care and feel them.
ReplyDeleteI love reading poems much more when it comes to rhyme ones. I know one but not really familiar of his works - Edgar Allan Poe. He is part of our literature subject way back when I was still in highschool.
ReplyDeleteWhat a nice poem. This made me realize how wonderful to live in the world even though most of the time we are living for survival everyday. Despite of this we must appreciate the life we have.
ReplyDeleteLovely poem. I love the green
ReplyDeleteWhat beautiful writing. My favorite poet is e.e. cummings!
ReplyDeleteI also do not have a favorite poem - it would be like asking me to choose a favorite child, all are different but equally worthy of love! Nice post!
ReplyDelete