When and why

WHEN I bring you coloured toys, my child, I understand why there is such a play of colours on clouds, on water, and why flowers are painted in tints–when I give coloured toys to you, my child. 

When I sing to make you dance, I truly know why there is music in leaves, and why waves send their chorus of voices to the heart of the listening earth–when I sing to make you dance. 

When I bring sweet things to your greedy hands, I know why there is honey in the cup of the flower, and why fruits are secretly filled with sweet juice–when I bring sweet things to your greedy hands. 

When I kiss your face to make you smile, my darling, I surely understand what pleasure streams from the sky in morning light, and what delight the summer breeze brings to my body–when I kiss you to make you smile. 

 

From 'The Crescent Moon', Macmillan & Co., 1913. Recording used by kind permission of the British Library

Rabindranath Tagore, known as the Bard of Bengal, was born in 1861 to an aristocratic family of social reformers in Calcutta (now ...

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