I was leafing through Tagore's Gitanjali. I have a really old copy published in the 30's that I picked form a raddhi bookshop sometime. I had made some really funny notes the first time I had read the book.Like a Nike logo next to this verse...one of my favorites.Since the book is already losing leaves, I thought I shall keep a e-note of this.
I must launch out my boat. The languid hours pass by on the shore
The spring has done its flowering and taken leave. And now with the burden of faded futile flowers I wait and linger.
The waves have become clamorous, and upon the bank in the shady lane the yellow leaves flutter and fall.
What emptiness do you gaze upon! Do you not feel a thrill passing through the air with the notes of the far-away song floating from the other shore?
I used to make mental pictures to understand poetry- figure out scenarios that would fit the words.( I had an equally funny one for Ozymandias)To remember this scenario I had created a story- in drawings - of an oarsman who had traveled across an endless Gulf to a surreal island with exotic flowers to get his ailing kid an orchid which he dreamed would cure his child of his illness. This at the cost of his daily wages he earned ferrying goods . He must locate it before winter causes the plant to lose its exuberant bloom, and its heavenly fragrance.He searches all over the island ,as fall/winter chases his footsteps, hunger gnaws at his determination.He searches out a lonely spot at the other end of the island where he finally spots the elusive flower.But winter has begun to tickle his bones..he smells the flower...it is barely what he was told it would be. He trundles hopelessly back to his boat, sobbing his heart out. He sits on the banks, watching across to the horizon as the sea stretches along endlessly, hoping that his child would not see him in his misery. In his sobs he does not hear the flautist play and the courtesans sing , as music fills the atmosphere and the chill and mist seem to vanish in the healing notes that waft through.
He cries out, " Lord, I have failed. Carry me, for I have no will to go and see my child die."
And his Lord whispers, from across the ocean into his ear....."despair not....your love has carried you thus far, and further shall you go. Launch your boat, so what if the flower has lost it's fragrance, you carry the fragrance in your heart.Love gave you your motivation till you came here, now faith will."
"Just do it dude"
2 comments:
Your story brought tears in my eyes... And I really admired the optimism!! You are a poet.. :-)
Though my immediate interpretation of those lines was/is bit different.
I try to connect everything I read to myself. Right now I am in a passive stage, and have just started a new activity with all my heart.
My interpretation goes as follows:
I have got good results of my past dids. But those actions have lost the significance now. Flowers have faded... Fall reminds me of the cycle of life- continuity of actions; evolution of another action from the first. There can't be a very long passive period in life.
Sea invites me to start a new journey. New shore and unseen beauty make new promises. How empty life would be without a new dream- a song from the distant shore? How filled it appers due the new dream I have held in my eyes!!
Beautiful post...
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