RABINDRANATH TAGORE ETERNAL LINES

 

ETERNAL  LINES

                        RABINDRANATH TAGORE

 

ON the seashore of endless worlds children meet.  The infinite sky is motionless overhead and the restless water is boisterous.  On the seashore of endless worlds the children meet with shouts and dances.

 

They build their houses with sand and they play with empty shells.  With withered leaves they weave their boats and smilingly float them on the vast deep.  Children have their play on the seashore of worlds.

 They know not how to swim, they know not how to cast nets.  Pearl fishers dive for pearls, merchants sail in their ships, while children gather pebbles and scatter them again.  They seek not for hidden treasures, they know not how to cast nets.

                                                                                 

The sea surges up with laughter and pale gleams the smile of the sea beach.  Death-dealing waves sing meaningless ballads to the children, even like a mother while rocking her baby’s cradle.  The sea plays with children, and pale gleams the smile of the sea beach.

 On the seashore of endless worlds children meet.  Tempest roams in the pathless sky, ships get wrecked in the trackless water, death is abroad and children play.  On the seashore of endless worlds is the great meting of children.

 

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WHEN I bring to you coloured toys, my child, I understand why there is such a play of colours on clouds, on water, and why flowers are painted in tints --- when I give coloured toys to you, my child.

 

When I sing to make you dance I truly know why there is music in leaves, and why waves send their chorus of voices to the heart of the listening earth --- when I sing to make you dance.

 

When I bring sweet things to your greedy I know why there is honey in the cup of the flower and why fruits are secretly filled with sweet juice – when I bring sweet things to your greedy hands.

 

When I kiss your face to make you smile, my darling, I surely understand what pleasure streams from the sky in morning light, and what delight that is which the summer breeze brings to my body --- when I kiss you to make you smile.

                                              ….

 

THE sleep that flits on baby’s eyes----does anybody know from where it comes?  Yes, there is a rumour that it has its own dwelling where, in the fairy village among shadows of the forest dimly lit with glow-worms, there hang two timid buds of enchantment.  From there it comes to kiss baby’s eyes.

 

The smile that flickers on baby’s lips when he sleeps --- does anybody know where it was born?  Yes, there is a rumour that a young pale beam of a crescent moon touched the edge of a vanishing autumn cloud, and there the smile was first born in the dream of a dew-washed morning – the smile that flickers on baby’s  lips when he sleeps.

 

The sweet, soft freshness that blooms on baby’s limbs ---- does anybody know where it was hidden so long? Yes, when the mother was a young girl it lay pervading her heart in tender and silent mystery of love --- the sweet, soft fresh that has bloomed on baby’s limb.                            ----