by Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941)
Translation by Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941)
May night
Language: English after the Bangla (Bengali)
I run as a musk-deer runs in the shadow of the forest mad with his own perfume. The night is the night of mid-May, the breeze is the breeze of the south. I lose my way and I wander, I seek what I cannot get, I get what I do not seek. From my heart comes out and dances the image of my own desire. The gleaming vision flits on. I try to clasp it firmly, it eludes me and leads me astray. I seek what I cannot get, I get what I do not seek.
Text Authorship:
- by Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941), appears in The Gardener, no. 15, first published 1913 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in Bangla (Bengali) by Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941), no title [text unavailable]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Richard Hageman (1881 - 1966), "May night", 1917 [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in Czech (Čeština), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Pavel Haas.
- Also set in Dutch (Nederlands), a translation by Frederik van Eeden (1860 - 1932) , no title, appears in De Hoovenier, no. 15, first published 1919 ; composed by Berthe Geuer.
- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Hans Gál.
- Also set in Italian (Italiano), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Franco Alfano.
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2004-01-19
Line count: 15
Word count: 96