I Dare Feel… So I Dare Write…
Somehow my thoughts
drifted into slumber
of deep woods
where I could see
the Self standing alone
in the reflecting waters
glimmering under
the full moon night.
“Who is this!”, was
my instant reaction, far
from realization
and recognition:
I was my unknown.
First a surprise,
then a disbelief
and mounting frustration.
The past was gone,
the present is staring
stark deep into my eyes:
I saw a naked unknown.
Truth is so rude!
I vividly remember reading this poem for the first time in my 8th standard. Ever since then I felt deeply connected, in some mysterious way, to this beautiful piece of creation from Gitanjali, a masterpiece written by Rabindranath Tagore.
Where the mind is without fear
and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been
broken up into fragments by narrow
domestic walls;
Where words come out from
the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its
arms towards perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason
has not lost its way into the dreary
desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is led forward by
thee into ever-widening thought and
action—
Into that heaven of freedom, my
Father, let my country awake.
~Rabindranath Tagore
P.S: My “Where” series poems are inspired from this poem!
Do words, that float
in our mind and
that trickle
down our lips,
tell the truth?
Do words know
what they say
or do we know?
We love them
so we use them
or misuse them?
We want to say
what we mean but
mostly we do not
mean what we say!
We repent for saying
what not to be said
and for not saying what
ought to be said.
Words are most used
but least understood.
Someone loves me
and I love someone
because words say so!
Words have fought battles.
Words have killed peoples.
Words have made kings.
And words do make fools.
Words, words and only
words do I have
but no meaning.
HearT SpeaK 