When And Why: Tagore Poetry for Students And Children

Rabindranath Tagore (Bengali: রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর) sobriquet Gurudev, was a Bengali polymath who reshaped his region’s literature and music. Author of Gitanjali and its “profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse”, he became the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913. In translation his poetry was viewed as spiritual and mercurial; his seemingly mesmeric personality, flowing hair, and other-worldly dress earned him a prophet-like reputation in the West. His “elegant prose and magical poetry” remain largely unknown outside Bengal. Tagore introduced new prose and verse forms and the use of colloquial language into Bengali literature…

When And Why: Rabindranath Tagore Poetry

When I bring you colored toys, my child,
I understand why there is such a play of colors on clouds,
on water, and why flowers are painted in tints –
when I give colored 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.

When I kiss your face to make you smile, my darling,
I surely understand what pleasure streams from the sky in morning light,
and what delight the summer breeze brings to my body –
when I kiss you to make you smile.

∼ Poetry by ‘Rabindranath Tagore‘