Poems of Rabindranath Tagore

forlorn thoughts from the forsaken hives
of all ages
swarming in the air
hum round my heart and seek my voice

the desert is imprisoned in the wall
of its unbounded barrenness

in the thrill of little leaves
I see the air’s invisible dance
and in their glimmering
the secret heart-beats of the sky

you are like a flowering tree
amazed when I praise you for your gifts

earth’s sacrificial fire
flames up in trees
scatters sparks in flowers

forests the clouds of earth
hold up to the sky their silence
and clouds from above come down
in resonant showers

the world speaks to me in pictures;
my soul answers in music;
the sky tells its beads all night
on the countless stars
in memory of the sun

the darkness of night
like pain is dumb
the darkness of dawn
like peace is silent

Rabindranath Tagore (1928)