The Essential Works of Tagore. Rabindranath Tagore

      I shall become a delicate draught of air and caress you; and I shall be ripples in the water when you bathe, and kiss you and kiss you again.

      In the gusty night when the rain patters on the leaves you will hear my whisper in your bed, and my laughter will flash with the lightning through the open window into your room.

      If you lie awake, thinking of your baby till late into the night, I shall sing to you from the stars, "Sleep mother, sleep."

      On the straying moonbeams I shall steal over your bed, and lie upon your bosom while you sleep.

      I shall become a dream, and through the little opening of your eyelids I shall slip into the depths of your sleep; and when you wake up and look round startled, like a twinkling firefly I shall flit out into the darkness.

      When, on the great festival of puja, the neighbours' children come and play about the house, I shall melt into the music of the flute and throb in your heart all day.

      Dear auntie will come with puja-presents and will ask, "Where is our baby, sister? Mother, you will tell her softly, "He is in the pupils of my eyes, he is in my body and in my soul."

THE RECALL

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      The night was dark when she went away, and they slept.

      The night is dark now, and I call for her, "Come back, my darling; the world is asleep; and no one would know, if you came for a moment while stars are gazing at stars."

      She went away when the trees were in bud and the spring was young.

      Now the flowers are in high bloom and I call, "Come back, my darling. The children gather and scatter flowers in reckless sport. And if you come and take one little blossom no one will miss it."

      Those that used to play are playing still, so spendthrift is life.

      I listen to their chatter and call, "Come back, my darling, for mother's heart is full to the brim with love, and if you come to snatch only one little kiss from her no one will grudge it."

THE FIRST JASMINES

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      Ah, these jasmines, these white jasmines!

      I seem to remember the first day when I filled my hands with these jasmines, these white jasmines.

      I have loved the sunlight, the sky and the green earth;

      I have heard the liquid murmur of the river through the darkness of midnight;

      Autumn sunsets have come to me at the bend of a road in the lonely waste, like a bride raising her veil to accept her lover.

      Yet my memory is still sweet with the first white jasmines that I held in my hand when I was a child.

      Many a glad day has come in my life, and I have laughed with merrymakers on festival nights.

      On grey mornings of rain I have crooned many an idle song.

      I have worn round my neck the evening wreath of bakulas woven by the hand of love.

      Yet my heart is sweet with the memory of the first fresh jasmines that filled my hands when I was a child.

THE BANYAN TREE

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      O you shaggy-headed banyan tree standing on the bank of the pond, have you forgotten the little child, like the birds that have nested in your branches and left you?

      Do you not remember how he sat at the window and wondered at the tangle of your roots that plunged underground?

      The women would come to fill their jars in the pond, and your huge black shadow would wriggle on the water like sleep struggling to wake up.

      Sunlight danced on the ripples like restless tiny shuttles weaving golden tapestry.

      Two ducks swam by the weedy margin above their shadows, and the child would sit still and think.

      He longed to be the wind and blow through your rustling branches, to be your shadow and lengthen with the day on the water, to be a bird and perch on your top-most twig, and to float like those ducks among the weeds and shadows.

BENEDICTION

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      Bless this little heart, this white soul that has won the kiss of heaven for our earth.

      He loves the light of the sun, he loves the sight of his mother's face.

      He has not learned to despise the dust, and to hanker after gold.

      Clasp him to your heart and bless him.

      He has come into this land of an hundred cross-roads.

      I know not how he chose you from the crowd, came to your door, and grasped your hand to ask his way.

      He will follow you, laughing and talking, and not a doubt in his heart.

      Keep his trust, lead him straight and bless him.

      Lay your hand on his head, and pray that though the waves underneath grow threatening, yet the breath from above may come and fill his sails and waft him to the haven of peace.

      Forget him not in your hurry, let him come to your heart and bless him.

THE GIFT

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      I want to give you something, my child, for we are drifting in the stream of the world.

      Our lives will be carried apart, and our love forgotten.

      But I am not so foolish as to hope that I could buy your heart with my gifts.

      Young is your life, your path long, and you drink the love we bring you at one draught and turn and run away from us.

      You have your play and your playmates. What harm is there if you have no time or thought for us.

      We, indeed, have leisure enough in old age to count the days that are past, to cherish in our hearts what our hands have lost for ever.

      The river runs swift with a song, breaking through all barriers. But the mountain stays and remembers, and follows her with his love.

MY SONG

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      This song of mine will wind its music around you, my child, like the fond arms of love.

      This song of mine will touch your forehead like a kiss of blessing.

      When you are alone it will sit by your side and whisper in your ear, when you are in the crowd it will fence you about with aloofness.

      My song will be like a pair of wings to your dreams, it will transport your heart to the verge of the unknown.

      It will be like the faithful star overhead when dark night is over your road.

      My song will sit inthe pupils of your eyes, and will carry your sight into the heart of things.

      And when my voice is silent in death,