A Glance
By RABINDRANATH TAGORE.
[Translated from the original Bengali by Bhahani Bhattacharya.] AT the moment of parting, she turned her face slightly and gave me her last glance. In the immense world where shall I keep that single glance ?
Where is the place that is beyond the silent foot-steps of seconds, minutes and hours ?
Will, this glance, be lost in the gloom of night that devours all the gold of autumn clouds ?
Will it be washed away by the rains that carry off the dust of nagkeshar flowers ?
How can it live amid the thousand distractions of the world—its vanity and its sufferings ?
Her sudden glance wandered over to me ignoring all else. I shall weave it in my songs, I shall bind it in my rhymes. I shall keep it in the Paradise of Beauty.
The might of the crown and the wealth of the rich do not live. But does not a tear-drop contain that nectar which can keep a momentary glance alive for ever ?
A tune of my songs murmurs in my bosom : " Let me have it. I touch not the kingly crown nor the gold of the rich ; but trifles like -that glance are my sole treasure. With them I make a garland for Eternity."
[During the ensuing weeks we shall publish a series of these prose poems by Dr. Tagore, now translated into English for the first time.—ED. x5pectator.J
Previous page
