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English translation: Song Offerings
1.
Language:
English
Authorship
Based on
When I bring to you colour'd toys, my child,
I understand why there is such a play of colours on clouds,
On water, and why flow'rs are painted in tints:
When I give colour'd 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 hands,
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.
2.
Language:
English
Authorship
Based on
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On the day when death will knock at thy door,
what wilt thou offer to him?
Oh, I will set before my guest the full vessel of my life;
I will never let him go with empty hands.
All the sweet vintage of all my autumn days and summer nights,
all the earnings and gleanings of my busy life,
will I place before him at the close of my days
when death will knock at my door.
Input by Geoffrey Wieting
3.
Language:
English
Authorship
Based on
The sleep that flits on baby's eyes,
does anybody know from where it comes?
Yes, there is a rumour that it has its dwelling
where, in the fairy village
among the 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.
4.
Language:
English
Authorship
Based on
I am like a remnant of a cloud of autumn
uselessly roaming in the sky,
O my sun ever-glorious!
Thy touch has not yet melted my vapour,
making me one with thy light,
and thus I count mounts and years separated from thee.
If this be thy wish and if this be thy play,
then take this fleeting emptiness of mine,
paint it with colours, gild it with gold,
float it on the wanton wind and spread it in varied wonders.
And again, when it shall be thy wish to end this play at night,
I shall melt and vanish away in the dark,
or it may be in a smile of the white morning,
in a coolness of purity transparent.
Input by Geoffrey Wieting
5.
Language:
English
Authorship
Based on
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 play 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 meeting of children.
Input by Geoffrey Wieting
6.
Language:
English
Authorship
Based on
See other settings of this text
Light, my light,
the world-filling light,
the eye-kissing light,
heart-sweetening light!
Ah, the light dances, my darling, at the centre of my life;
the light strikes, my darling,
the chords of my love;
the sky opens, the wind runs wild,
laughter passes over the earth.
The butterflies spread their sails
on the sea of light.
Lilies and jasmines surge up
on the crest of the waves of light.
The light is shattered into gold
on every cloud, my darling,
and it scatters gems in profusion.
Mirth spreads from leaf to leaf, my darling,
and gladness without measure.
The heaven's river has drowned its banks
and the flood of joy is abroad.
Input by Geoffrey Wieting
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Gitanjali (Song Offerings),
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Books:
The Art of the Song Recital [amazon.com]
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