The Little Big Man

Rabindranath Tagore 1861 (Kolkata) – 1941 (Kolkata)



I am small because I am a little child. I shall be big when I am
as old as my father is.
    My teacher will come and say, "It is late, bring your slate
and your books."
    I shall tell him, " Do you not know I am as big as father? And
I must not have lessons any more."
    My master will wonder and say, "He can leave his books if he
likes, for he is grown up."
    I shall dress myself and walk to the fair where the crowd is
thick.
    My uncle will come rushing up to me and say, "You will get
lost, my boy; let me carry you."
    I shall answer, "Can't you see, uncle, I am as big as father?
I must go to the fair alone."
    Uncle will say, "Yes, he can go wherever he likes, for he is
grown up."
    Mother will come from her bath when I am giving money to my
nurse, for I shall know how to open the box with my key.
    Mother will say, "What are you about, naughty child?"
    I shall tell her, "Mother, don't you know, I am as big as
father, and I must give silver to my nurse."
    Mother will say to herself, "He can give money to whom he
likes, for he is grown up."
    In the holiday time in October father will come home and,
thinking that I am still a baby, will bring for me from the town
little shoes and small silken frocks.
    I shall say, "Father, give them to my data, for I am as big
as you are."
    Father will think and say, "He can buy his own clothes if he
likes, for he is grown up."

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on May 02, 2023

1:27 min read
163

Quick analysis:

Scheme abcdefgHbijklmbhngopqgHerstugH
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 1,394
Words 303
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 30

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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