Tagore: Those who are near me do not know
20 January 2005
Those who are near me do not know that you are nearer to me than they are
Those who speak to me do not know that my heart is full with your unspoken words
Those who crowd in my path do not know that I am walking alone with you
They who love me do not know that their love brings you to my heart.
—Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941), Gitanjali. He translated the poems into English himself.
The original Bengali poem (1901) and other Tagore poems can be found here. Thanks to Sourav Guha for the source.
যারা কাছে আছে তারা কাছে থাক্, তারা তো পারে না জানিতে--
তাহাদের চেয়ে তুমি কাছে আছ আমার হৃদয়খানিতে ॥
যারা কথা বলে তাহারা বলুক, আমি করিব না কারেও বিমুখ--
তারা নাহি জানে ভরা আছে প্রাণ তব অকথিত বাণীতে।
নীরবে নিয়ত রয়েছে আমার নীরব হৃদয়খানিতে ॥
তোমার লাগিয়া কারেও, হে প্রভু, পথ ছেড়ে দিতে বলিব না, কভু,
যত প্রেম আছে সব প্রেম মোরে তোমা-পানে রবে টানিতে--
সকলের প্রেমে রবে তব প্রেম আমার হৃদয়খানিতে।
সবার সহিতে তোমার বাঁধন হেরি যেন সদা এ মোর সাধন--
সবার সঙ্গ পারে যেন মনে তব আরাধনা আনিতে।
সবার মিলনে তোমার মিলন
জাগিবে হৃদয়খানিতে ॥
Photo used by kind permission of Daniel Schwabe.
I often quote him - my favourite ?
"While God waits for his house to be built of love, men bring stones."
Posted by: henry balfour | 06 April 2009 at 16:56
It's beautiful. Do you know where those quotations are from? I haven't been able to find them.
Posted by: Sedulia | 06 April 2009 at 23:24
This is beautiful. I really think this site is lovely.
Posted by: skyweaver | 21 May 2012 at 16:51
This is a line from a song of poet's most famous work, GITANJALI. The song has no name but in bengali, first line came as "যারা কাছে আছে তারা কাছে থাক্"...will be pronounced as "jara kache ache tara kache thak ".... You will get the whole lyrics here
http://www.tagoreweb.in/Render/ShowContent.aspx?ct=Songs&bi=B08A005B-A4A0-40E5-951D-C70C8B1532CC&ti=B08A005B-A4A1-4295-351D-3684D95D9CBA
and for hear the tune you can visit http://www.dekhona.com/music-videos/hcfaiutnpro/JARA-KACHE-ACHE-TARA-KACHE-THAK-Geeta-Sen-video
Posted by: Sourav Guha | 11 November 2014 at 15:38
Thank you so much! I have been looking for the source of this quotation for at least ten years. I even found Gitanjali but the translation I had was not the same.
Posted by: Sedulia | 16 November 2014 at 17:51
Peace, my heart,
let the time for the parting be sweet.
Let it not be a death
but completeness.
Let love melt into memory
and pain into songs.
Let the flight through the sky end
in the folding of the wings over the nest.
Let the last touch of your hands be gentle
like the flower of the night.
Stand still, O Beautiful End,
for a moment,
and say your last words in silence.
I bow to you
and hold up my lamp
to light you on your way.
—Rabindranath Tagore
Posted by: Maura High | 11 October 2017 at 20:52
Beautiful words, Tagore was a master of emotional poetry. The spiritual master from Bengal was Yogananda Paramhansa though, we really worked with healing!
Posted by: Vandana | 20 July 2018 at 09:46