Sunday, December 25, 2011

Tagore



The Gardener 1919
by Rabindranath Tagore

Who are you, reader,
reading my poems an hundred years hence?
I cannot send you one single flower
from this wealth of the spring,
one single streak of gold from yonder clouds.
Open your doors and look abroad from your blossoming garden
gather fragrant memories of the vanished flowers
of an hundred years before.
In the joy of your heart may you feel living joy
that sang one spring morning,
sending its glad voice across an hundred years.

The camellias were given to us for Christmas by our neighbor. They have a huge camellia shrub covered with these delicate pink blossoms which I noticed the other day as we drove by. How did they know I admired them so. Even though I know there's no fragrance in the flower I can almost detect a faint scent. I couldn't find the translation of Camellia by Rabindranath Tagore, so I posted this poem. While researching camellia I discovered Tagore and would like to read more of his writings in the new year.

6 comments:

  1. Camelia's are beautiful... there is an old pottery here in Seagrove with two beautiful bushes that have been blooming for a few weeks. I would love to have a couple of those in my yard.

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  2. I have mnay Camelia's around the yard planted by my grandmother- they are wonderful as they bloom all winter. They make me think of her.
    Merry Christmas Linda and Gary.

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  3. Beautiful.....I don't think they are hardy this far north.....one of the treats of mild winters.

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  4. Hi Michele, thanks, yes they are so perfectly shaped, our neighbors tree is covered with blossoms.

    Hi Meredith, thanks, nice to have camellias planted by your grandmother as a reminder of her; I guess the shrubs must live a good long time.

    Hi Suzi, thanks, we had a camellia when we lived in Arkansas which got in the teens in winter, it was planted on the east side of the house and it was quite large, not sure how much farther north they could go though.

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  5. Tagore has written some fascinating pieces of literature. He was pretty popular during the '60's.

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  6. Hi Kate, thanks, I am not sure how I missed him, going to look up some, I loved this poem and he was ahead of himself, his thoughts seem appropriate for today's world.

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