(Patthika) Rabindranath Tagore
The wind blows at troubled speed,
the sky is overcast,
the peacock calls.
I did not work, did not change,
the day is over, my hair untied___
I read your words.
O my poet tho,
I have never known you,
still your message embeds
a hidden image in my mind.
Your words render cloud and shadow
in a melancholic tune,
that brings tears to my eyes.
My heart yearns to understand you.
When and where you wake,
whose absence distresses you__
who is your beloved!
You are Indra, your wife is Indrani
You have painted a picture of her
with your affection.
O my dear poet ,
although the rhythm beats in my heart
I am lifeless, a statue
I know not why I feel this way.
The woman is forever beloved
your songs praise her__
without reason your heart is elated.
Even if I had not heard her name,
nor seen her once
there is no loss in that!
If one knows not your sweetheart
one knows her by your song.
O my dear poet,
the spring is far-off
yet the blood dances in my veins.
The one you know appears
in this strange place,
as I stand among these strangers.
Your garland came around my neck.
the flowers wet with rain…
On some rainy evening your beloved’s
braid wrapped round you
the scent like a dream.
And in my heart, past lives converge.
O my poet,
know you not the soft melody
in my arbour of creepers–
You sang a song of sadness
of things that occurred long ago…
Your brooding melody
flowing into a marvel of its own.