The Gardener LXXXI: Why Do You Whisper So Faintly

Rabindranath Tagore 1861 (Kolkata) – 1941 (Kolkata)



Why do you whisper so faintly in
my ears, O Death, my Death?
    When the flowers droop in the
evening and cattle come back to their
stalls, you stealthily come to my side
and speak words that I do not
understand.
    Is this how you must woo and win
me with the opiate of drowsy murmur
and cold kisses, O Death, my Death?
    Will there be no proud ceremony
for our wedding?
    Will you not tie up with a wreath
your tawny coiled locks?
    Is there none to carry your banner
before you, and will not the night be
on fire with your red torch-lights,
O Death, my Death?
    Come with your conch-shells sound-
ing, come in the sleepless night.
    Dress me with a crimson mantle,
grasp my hand and take me.
    Let your chariot be ready at my
door with your horses neighing impatiently.
    Raise my veil and look at my face
proudly, O Death, my Death!

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 18, 2023

48 sec read
76

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABCDEFGAHBIJKLHIMBNOPIQIRB
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 835
Words 160
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 26

Rabindranath Tagore

Rabindranath Tagore FRAS was an Indian polymath—poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He reshaped Bengali literature and music as well as Indian art with Contextual Modernism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. more…

All Rabindranath Tagore poems | Rabindranath Tagore Books

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