from Stray Birds [233—237]

Rabindranath Tagore

233

In heart's perspective the distance looms large.

234

The moon has her light all over the sky, her dark spots to herself.

235

Do not say, "It is morning," and dismiss it with a name of yesterday. See it for the first time as a new-born child that has no name.

236

Smoke boasts to the sky, and Ashes to the earth, that they are brothers to the fire.

237

The raindrop whispered to the jasmine, "Keep me in your heart

for ever."
The jasmine sighed, "Alas," and dropped to the ground.

This poem is in the public domain. Published in Poem-a-Day on July 28, 2019, by the Academy of American Poets.

About This Poem

"[233—237]" was published in Stray Birds (Macmillan, 1921).

Rabindranath Tagore was born in Calcutta, India, on May 7, 1861. He is the author of many poetry collections, including Gitanjali: Song Offerings (Macmillan, 1913), which received the Nobel Prize in Literature. He died on August 7, 1941.

Poetry by Tagore

The Essential Tagore

(Belknap Press, 2014)

from "Surge" by Etel Adnan

"Hope is the thing with feathers" by Emily Dickinson

"On Love" by Kahlil Gibran

July Guest Editor: Paul Guest

Thanks to Paul Guest, author of Because Everything Is Terrible (Diode Editions, 2018), who curated Poem-a-Day for this month's weekdays. Read a Q&A with Guest about his curatorial approach this month and find out more about our guest editors for the year.

Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit Poets.org.

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Sunday, July 28, 2019