Leave this chanting and singing and telling of beads! | Song Offerings, Gitanjali by Rabindranath Tagore

Leave this chanting and singing and telling of beads! – is a poem in the Rabindranath Tagore’s poetry collection “Song Offerings” or “Gitanjali” in Bengali. Geetanjali is a remarkable book of verses composed by Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941), which earned him the Nobel Prize.

It was written originally in Bangla during 1908-1909 and later its English version in prose was published under the title ‘The Song offerings’. It was the first English anthology of Rabindranath published in late 1912 by the India Society of London. On 10 November of the following Year (1913), Rabindranath Tagore was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for the book Geetanjali.

This recognition introduced Rabindranath worldwide as an exponent of unique poetic talent. Famous Irish poet W B Yeats wrote the introduction of the English version of Geetanjali. Besides, a pencil sketch of the poet drawn by Rothenstain was published in the book. Rabindranath dedicated Geetanjali to WB Yeats.

Serial Number of the song : 11

 

Leave this chanting and singing and telling of beads!.

LEAVE THIS chanting and singing and telling of beads!

Whom dost thou worship in this lonely dark corner of a temple with doors all shut?

Open thine eyes and see thy God is not before thee!

He is there where the tiller is tilling the hard ground and where the path-maker is breaking stones.

He is with them in sun and in shower, and his garment is covered with dust.

Put off thy holy mantle and even like him come down on the dusty soil!

Deliverance? Where is this deliverance to be found?

Our master himself has joyfully taken upon him the bonds of creation;

he is bound with us all for ever.

Come out of thy meditations and leave aside thy flowers and incense!

What harm is there if thy clothes become tattered and stained?

Meet him and stand by him in toil and in sweat of thy brow.

 

 

Read more:

• If the day is done | Song Offerings, Gitanjali by Rabindranath Tagore
• Art thou abroad on this stormy night on thy journey | Song Offerings, Gitanjali by Rabindranath Tagore
• In the deep shadows of the rainy July | Song Offerings, Gitanjali by Rabindranath Tagore
• I must launch out my boat | Song Offerings, Gitanjali by Rabindranath Tagore
• On the day when the lotus bloomed alas | Song Offerings, Gitanjali by Rabindranath Tagore