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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 pathmaker is breaking stones.  He is with them in sun and in

shower, and his garment is covered with dust.  Put of 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.

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From: GITANJALI – ‘Song Offerings’

    By: RABINDRANATH TAGORE

Links

Tagore Short Poems

Tagore Stray Birds

Tagore Poems