Centre for Romanian Studies

Poetry in Translation (CLXVII): Rabindranath TAGORE (1861 – 1941), India, – “A Moment’s Indulgence”, “O clipă de împlinire”

Rabindranath TAGORE

Rabindranath TAGORE (1861 – 1941)
A Moment’s Indulgence

I ask for a moment’s indulgence to sit by thy side. The works
that I have in hand I will finish afterwards.

Away from the sight of thy face my heart knows no rest nor respite,
and my work becomes an endless toil in a shoreless sea of toil.

Today the summer has come at my window with its sighs and murmurs; and
the bees are plying their minstrelsy at the court of the flowering grove.

Now it is time to sit quite, face to face with thee, and to sing
dedication of life in this silent and overflowing leisure.

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O clipă de împlinire
Rabindranath TAGORE), India, (1861 – 1941)

Rogu-te, doar o clipă de bună voinţă, ca să stau lângă tine. Lucrul
ce am de împlinit, poate rămâne pe mai târziu.

Departe de icoana feţei tale, sufletul meu n-are nici odihnă, nici răgaz,
iar munca mea devine o corvoadă nesfârșită, într-un ocean de trudă neţărmurită.

Astăzi, vara, cu suspine ei, a venit la fereastra mea, în timp ce
albinele îsi cântă zumzetul lor, la curtea majestoasă a crângului înflorit.

Acum e timpul să ne privim, față în față, și să înălţăm
cântul vieții, în această clipă liberă, debordând de împliniri.

(Rendered in Romanian by Constantin ROMAN, London,
© 2013 Copyright Constantin ROMAN)

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Rabindranath TAGORE Nobel Prize

Biographical Extract (adapted from Wikipedia):
Rabindranath Tagore was a Bengali polymath who reshaped his region’s literature and music. A friend of Mahatma Gandhi, he became the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913. In translation his poetry was viewed as spiritual and mercurial; his seemingly mesmeric personality, flowing hair, and otherworldly dress earned him a prophet-like reputation in the West. His “elegant prose and magical poetry” remain largely unknown outside Bengal. Tagore introduced new prose and verse forms and the use of colloquial language into Bengali literature, thereby freeing it from traditional models based on classical Sanskrit. He was highly influential in acting as a catalyst by introducing the best of Indian culture to the West and vice versa. Tagore’s reputation remains one of the foremost creative artists of modern India.