Tagore Translation: This Dog

This Dog by Rabindranath Tagore loose translation by Michael R. Burch Each morning this dog, who has become quite attached to me, sits silently at my feet until, gently caressing his head, I acknowledge his company. This simple recognition gives my companion such joy he shudders with sheer delight. Among all languageless creatures he alone has seen through man entire— has seen beyond what is good or bad in him to such a depth he can lay down his life for the sake of love alone. Now it is he who shows me the way through this unfathomable world throbbing with life. When I see his deep devotion, his offer of his whole being, I fail to comprehend... How, through sheer instinct, has he discovered whatever it is that he knows? With his anxious piteous looks he cannot communicate his understanding and yet somehow has succeeded in conveying to me out of the entire creation the true loveworthiness of man. "This Dog" appeared in the poetry collection Arogya by Rabindranath Tagore.