Four Poems from "Sparks" by Rabindranath Tagore

Spring, it is time to tell
The flowers to open.
The leaves are whispering now
With expectation.

***

The spirit of life is oblivious
Of where earth is, or the sky.
That is why
Flowers seek it in the stars,
Stars seek it in the flowers.

***

He who knows the truth
Stores it in a treasure-chest proudly.
He who loves the truth
Keeps it inside himself humbly.

***

Keep, and the load presses down
On your shoulder.
Give, and the whole wide world
Is its porter.

Translator’s Note: When I translated Rabindranath Tagore’s kabitika or “brief poems” for my book Particles, Jottings, Sparks (Angel Books, London, 2001), I used for the book’s third section, “Sparks,” the text of the posthumous collection Sphulinga that was included in the centenary edition of Tagore’s Collected Works (1961). This text has 260 poems. I found, however, that it was too long to balance the other two sections of my book, “Particles” (Kanika, 1899) and “Jottings” (Lekhan, 1927); so I decided to use the original Sphulinga of 1945, which has 198 poems. I therefore have 62 translations that have not yet appeared in print. These four are taken from those unpublished translations and will, I hope, demonstrate my view that Tagore’s brief poems take us to the heart of his imagination, humanity and wisdom.

Spring, it is time to tell
The flowers to open.
The leaves are whispering now
With expectation.

***

The spirit of life is oblivious
Of where earth is, or the sky.
That is why
Flowers seek it in the stars,
Stars seek it in the flowers.

***

He who knows the truth
Stores it in a treasure-chest proudly.
He who loves the truth
Keeps it inside himself humbly.

***

Keep, and the load presses down
On your shoulder.
Give, and the whole wide world
Is its porter.

Translator’s Note: When I translated Rabindranath Tagore’s kabitika or “brief poems” for my book Particles, Jottings, Sparks (Angel Books, London, 2001), I used for the book’s third section, “Sparks,” the text of the posthumous collection Sphulinga that was included in the centenary edition of Tagore’s Collected Works (1961). This text has 260 poems. I found, however, that it was too long to balance the other two sections of my book, “Particles” (Kanika, 1899) and “Jottings” (Lekhan, 1927); so I decided to use the original Sphulinga of 1945, which has 198 poems. I therefore have 62 translations that have not yet appeared in print. These four are taken from those unpublished translations and will, I hope, demonstrate my view that Tagore’s brief poems take us to the heart of his imagination, humanity and wisdom.