The Writing Artist- Rabindranath Tagore

For today’s writing artist spotlight, I’ve chosen Bengali novelist, musician, poet, playwright and painter Rabindranath Tagore. His style went against the norms of traditional Bengali culture at the time causing his first poems to be taken by literary authorities. He went on to challenge and change the standard of Bengali literature and music incorporating spiritual, magical and political themes in his work. In 1913, Tagore became the first non- European to be awarded a Nobel Prize. He composed 2 songs which became the national anthems of India and Bangladesh and authored Gitanjali, Gora and Ghare- Baire. He took up painting later in life as an art that eluded his natural abilities. He was believed to be red-green color blind based on the weird color combinations in his art.  Below I have shared his poem Brink of Eternity.

Brink of Eternity

In desperate hope I go and search for her 
in all the corners of my room; 
I find her not. 

My house is small 
and what once has gone from it can never be regained. 

But infinite is thy mansion, my lord, 
and seeking her I have to come to thy door. 

I stand under the golden canopy of thine evening sky 
and I lift my eager eyes to thy face. 

I have come to the brink of eternity from which nothing can vanish 
---no hope, no happiness, no vision of a face seen through tears. 

Oh, dip my emptied life into that ocean, 
plunge it into the deepest fullness. 
Let me for once feel that lost sweet touch 
in the allness of the universe. 

-        Rabindranath Tagore

~ Nia Andino ~