Rabindranath Tagore: Gitanjali 11

Gitanjali 11 by Rabindranath Tagore loose translation/modernization by Michael R. Burch Leave this vain chanting and singing and counting of beads: what Entity do you seek in this lonely dark temple corner with all the doors shut? Open your eyes and see God is not here! He is there where the tiller tills the hard ground and the paver breaks stones. He is with them in sun and shower; his garments are filthy with dust. Shed your immaculate mantle and like him embrace the dust! Deliverance? Where is this "deliverance" to be found? Our master himself has joyfully embraced the bonds of creation; he is bound with us all forever! Cease your meditations, abandon your petals and incense! What harm is there if your clothes become stained rags? Meet him in the toil and the sweat of his brow! These are modern English translations of poems by the great Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941), who has been called the "Bard of Bengal" and "the Bengali Shelley." In 1913 Tagore became the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. Tagore was also a notable artist, musician and polymath. Gitanjali 35 by Rabindranath Tagore loose translation/interpretation/modernization by Michael R. Burch Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high; Where knowledge is free; Where the world has not been divided by narrow domestic walls; Where words emerge from the depths of truth; Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection; Where the clear stream of reason has not been lost amid the dreary desert sands of dead habit; Where the mind is led forward into ever-widening thought and action; Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake. Keywords/Tags: Translation, Tagore, Bengali, God, Religion, Prayer, Chanting, Singing, Counting, Beads, Dark, Temple, Doors, Shut, Tiller, Ground, Paver, Stones, Sun, Shower, Garments, Clothes, Mantle, Dust, Deliverance, Master, Creation, Unity, Meditation, Petals, Flowers, Incense, Rags, Toil, Sweat, Brow, Work, Labor, Hindi, vain, worship, entity, God, temple, chanting, singing, counting, beads, petals, incense, meditations, tiller, paver, dust, rags, sweat, toil, mrburdu, Tagore, Rabindranath Tagore, India, Indian, poet, Bengali, sea, seashore, children, mother, dog, love, lover, patience, curtain, death