51
YOUR idol is shattered in the dust
to prove that God’s dust is greater than
your idol.
52
MAN does not reveal himself in his history,
he struggles up through it.
53
WHILE the glass lamp rebukes the earthen for calling it cousin,
the moon rises, and the glass lamp,
with a bland smile, calls her,
“My dear, dear sister.”
54
LIKE the meeting of the seagulls
and the waves we meet and come near.
The seagulls fly off,
the waves roll away and we depart.
55
MY day is done,
and I am like a boat drawn on the beach,
listening to the dance-music of t
he tide in the evening.
56
LIFE is given to us,
we earn it by giving it.
57
WE come nearest to the great
when we are great in humility.
58
THE sparrow is sorry for the peacock
at the burden of its tail.
59
NEVER be afraid of the moments–
thus sings the voice of the everlasting.
60
THE hurricane seeks the shortest road
by the no-road,
and suddenly ends its search in the Nowhere.
From: Stray Birds
By Rabindranath Tagore
[translated from Bengali to English by the author]
New York: The Macmillan Company, 1916