The Collected Plays. Rabindranath TagoreЧитать онлайн книгу.
within, hidden even from ourselves.
This is her sorrow, that she finds out some things only to know that she has not found all. She loses before she attains.
Ah, the dear earth! We shall never deceive you.
(They sing.)
I shall crown you with my garland, before I take leave.
You ever spoke to me in all my joys and sorrows.
And now, at the end of the day, my own heart will break in speech.
Words came to me, but not the tune, and the song that I never sang to you remains hidden behind my tears.
Brother, did you notice that some one seemed to have passed by?
The only thing you feel is this passing by.
I felt the touch of the mantle of some wayfarer.
We came out to capture somebody, but now we feel the longing to be captured ourselves.
Ah, here comes the Minstrel. Where have you brought us? The breath of the wayfaring world touches us here,—the breath of the starry sky.
We came seeking a new form of play. But now we have forgotten what play it was.
We wanted to catch the Old Man.
And everybody said that he was terrifying, a bodiless head, a gaping mouth, a dragon eager to swallow the moon of the youth of the world. But now we are no longer afraid. The flowers go, the leaves go, the waves in the river go, and we shall also follow them. Ah, blind Minstrel, strike your lute and sing to us. Who knows what is the hour of the night?
(The Minstrel sings.)
Let me give my all to him, before I am asked, whom the world offers its all.
When I came to him for my gifts, I was not afraid;
And I will not fear, when I come to him, to give up what I have.
The morning accepts his gold with songs, the evening pays him back the debt of gold and is glad.
The joy of the blooming flower comes to fruit with shedding of its leaves.
Hasten, my heart, and spend yourself in love, before the day is done.
Minstrel, why is Chandra still absent?
Minstrel
Don't you know that he has gone?
Gone?—Where?
Minstrel
He said, I shall go and conquer him.
Whom?
Minstrel
The One who is feared by all. He said, "Why else am I young?"
Ah, that was fine.—Dada goes to read his quatrains to the village people, and Chandra has disappeared,—for what purpose nobody knows.
Minstrel
He said, "Men have always been fighting for a cause. It is the shock of that, which ruffles the breeze of this Spring."
The shock?
Minstrel
Yes, the message that man's fight is not yet over.
Is this the message of Spring?
Minstrel
Yes. Those, who have been made immortal by death, have sent their message in these fresh leaves of Spring. It said, "We never doubted the way. We never counted the cost: we rushed out: we blossomed. If we had sat down to debate, then where would be the Spring?"
Has that made Chandra mad?
Minstrel
He said——
(The Minstrel sings.)
The Spring flowers have woven my wreath of victory,
The South wind breathes its breath of fire in my blood.
The voice of the house-corner wails in vain from behind.
Death stands before me, offering its crown.
The tempest of youth sweeps the skyharp with its fingers;
My heart dances in its wild rhythm.
Gathering and storing are not for me,
I spend and scatter.
And prudence and comfort bid me adieu in despair.
But where has he gone to?
Minstrel
He said, "I cannot keep waiting by the wayside any longer. I must go and meet him, and conquer him."
But which way did he take?
Minstrel
He has entered the cave.
How is that? It is so fearfully dark. Did he, without making any enquiries——
Minstrel
Yes, he went in to make enquiries himself.
When will he come back?
I don't believe he will ever come back.
But if Chandra leaves us, then life is not worth living.
What shall we say to our Leader?
The Leader also will leave us.
Didn't he leave any message for us before he disappeared?
Minstrel
He said, "Wait for me. I shall return."
Return? How are we to know it?
Minstrel
He said, "I will conquer, and then come back again."
Then we shall wait for him all night.
But, Minstrel, where have we got to wait for him?
Minstrel
Before that cave, from whence the stream of water comes flowing out.
Which way did he go to get there?
The darkness there is like a dark sword.
Minstrel
He followed the sound of the night-bird's wings.
Why did you not go with him?
Minstrel
He left me behind to give you hope.
When did he go?
Minstrel
In the first hour of the watch.
Now the third hour has passed, I think. The air is chilly.
I dreamt that three women, with their hair hanging loose——
Oh, leave off your dream-women. I am sick of your dreams.
Everything appears darkly ominous. I didn't notice before the hooting of the owl. But now——
Do you hear that dog whining on the far bank of the river?
It seems as though a witch were riding upon him and lashing him.
Surely, if it had been possible, Chandra would have come back by now.
How I wish this night were over.
Do you hear the woman's cry?
Oh, the women, the women. They are ever crying and weeping. But they cannot turn those back, who must go forward.
It is getting unbearable to sit still like this. Men imagine all sorts of things when they sit still. Let us go also. As soon as we are started on our way fear will leave us.
But who will show us the way?
There is the blind Minstrel.
What do you say, Minstrel? Can you show us the way?
Minstrel