Stray Birds 1 - 10

Rabindranath Tagore 1861 (Kolkata) – 1941 (Kolkata)



STRAY birds of summer come to my window
to sing and fly away.
And yellow leaves of autumn,
which have no songs,
flutter and fall there with a sigh.

2

O TROUPE of little vagrants of the world,
leave your footprints in my words.

3

THE world puts off its mask of vastness to its lover.
It becomes small as one song,
as one kiss of the eternal.

4

IT is the tears of the earth
that keep her smiles in bloom.

5

THE mighty desert is burning
for the love of a blade of grass
who shakes her head and laughs
and flies
away.

6

IF you shed tears when you miss the sun,
you also miss the stars.

7

THE sands in your way beg for your song
and your movement,
dancing water.
Will you carry the burden of their lameness?

8

HER wistful face haunts my dreams
like the rain at night.

9

ONCE we dreamt that we were strangers.
We wake up to find that we were dear to each other.

10

SORROW is hushed into peace in my heart
like the evening among the silent trees.

Font size:
Collection  PDF     
 

Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 22, 2023

57 sec read
211

Quick analysis:

Scheme XAXBX XX CDX XX XXXXA XX DXCB XX XC XX
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 934
Words 193
Stanzas 10
Stanza Lengths 5, 2, 3, 2, 5, 2, 4, 2, 2, 2

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

5 fans

Discuss the poem Stray Birds 1 - 10 with the community...

0 Comments

    Translation

    Find a translation for this poem in other languages:

    Select another language:

    • - Select -
    • 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
    • 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
    • Español (Spanish)
    • Esperanto (Esperanto)
    • 日本語 (Japanese)
    • Português (Portuguese)
    • Deutsch (German)
    • العربية (Arabic)
    • Français (French)
    • Русский (Russian)
    • ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
    • 한국어 (Korean)
    • עברית (Hebrew)
    • Gaeilge (Irish)
    • Українська (Ukrainian)
    • اردو (Urdu)
    • Magyar (Hungarian)
    • मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
    • Indonesia (Indonesian)
    • Italiano (Italian)
    • தமிழ் (Tamil)
    • Türkçe (Turkish)
    • తెలుగు (Telugu)
    • ภาษาไทย (Thai)
    • Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
    • Čeština (Czech)
    • Polski (Polish)
    • Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
    • Românește (Romanian)
    • Nederlands (Dutch)
    • Ελληνικά (Greek)
    • Latinum (Latin)
    • Svenska (Swedish)
    • Dansk (Danish)
    • Suomi (Finnish)
    • فارسی (Persian)
    • ייִדיש (Yiddish)
    • հայերեն (Armenian)
    • Norsk (Norwegian)
    • English (English)

    Citation

    Use the citation below to add this poem to your bibliography:

    Style:MLAChicagoAPA

    "Stray Birds 1 - 10" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 16 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/29529/stray-birds-1---10>.

    Become a member!

    Join our community of poets and poetry lovers to share your work and offer feedback and encouragement to writers all over the world!

    April 2024

    Poetry Contest

    Join our monthly contest for an opportunity to win cash prizes and attain global acclaim for your talent.
    14
    days
    8
    hours
    55
    minutes

    Special Program

    Earn Rewards!

    Unlock exciting rewards such as a free mug and free contest pass by commenting on fellow members' poems today!

    Browse Poetry.com

    Quiz

    Are you a poetry master?

    »
    Who was “admirably schooled in every grace”?
    A Richard Cory
    B Miniver Cheevy
    C J. Alfred Prufrock
    D Odysseus