Rabindranath Tagore Translation: Patience Poem by Michael Burch

Patience
by Rabindranath Tagore
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

If you refuse to speak, I will fill my heart with your silence and endure it.
I will remain still and wait like the night through its starry vigil
with its head bowed low in patience.

The morning will surely come, the darkness will vanish,
and your voice will pour down in golden streams breaking through the heavens.

Then your words will take wing in songs from each of my birds' nests,
and your melodies will break forth in flowers in all my forest groves.



Only Let Me Love You
by Michael R. Burch

after Rabindranath Tagore

Only let me love you, and the pain
of living will be easier to bear.
Only let me love you. Nay, refrain
from pinning up your hair!

Only let me love you. Stay, remain.
A face so lovely never needs repair!
Only let me love you to the strains
of Rabindranath on a soft sitar.

Only let me love you, while the rain
makes music: gentle, eloquent, sincere.
Only let me love you. Don't complain
you need more time to make yourself more fair!

Only let me love you. Stay, remain.
No need for rogue or lipstick! Only share
your tender body swiftly...

[Only let me love you. Stay, remain.
No need for rogue or lipstick! Only share
your tender body swiftly. What's the gain?
We'll just remove whatever things you wear! ]


Keywords/Tags: patience, Tagore, translation, Bengali, pathos, heart, heartache, heartbreak, heart song, silence, night, stars, vigil, darkness, voice, streams, heaven, birds, songs, nests, melodies, flowers, groves