Poems from The Lover of God: Rabindranath
Tagore's Songs of the Poet Sun-Lion
The four poems translated here come from
a cycle of twenty-two lyrics in the manner
of sixteenth century Hindu Vaisnava poets
who wrote in an obscure literary dialect
of Bengali called Brajabuli. Tradition invites
the author-devotee to assume a female persona
to establish a proper relationship to the
object of devotion, Lord Krishna. The devotee's
poetic identity—here an elderly woman
called Bhanusimha, a fanciful etymological
rendering of Tagore's own name—enters
the drama as a companion of Krishna's favorite
girlfriend Radha, who struggles to understand
the caprice of love.
Published pseudonymously at first, these poems were often dismissed
as the work of a precocious 14 year old, but ironically haunted Tagore
through successive revisions spanning the next 66 years—a compelling
indicator of their hold on him and their expression of a very private
and passionate world. They were among the very last poems he revised
months before his death.
ONE: English
// Bengali
TWO: English
// Bengali
SEVEN: English
// Bengali
EIGHT: English
// Bengali
