The First Jasmines | Ah, these jasmines, these white jasmines!

by Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941)

Translation by Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941)

The First Jasmines

Language: English after the Bangla (Bengali)

Ah, these jasmines, these white jasmines!
I seem to remember the first day
when I filled my hands with these jasmines, these white jasmines.
I have loved the sunlight, the sky and the green earth;
I have heard the liquid murmur of the river
through the darkness of midnight;
Autumn sunsets have come to me
at the bend of the road in the lonely waste,
like a bride raising her veil to accept her lover.
Yet my memory is still sweet with the first white jasmines
that I held in my hand when I was a child.
Many a glad day has come in my life,
and I have laughed with merry makers on festival nights.
On grey mornings of rain I have crooned many an idle song.
I have worn 'round my neck the evening wreath
of bakulas woven by the hand of love.
Yet my heart is still sweet with the memory of the first fresh jasmines
that filled my hands when I was a child.

Text Authorship:

by Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941), "The first jasmines", appears in The Crescent Moon, no. 34, first published 1913 [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]

Based on:

a text in Bangla (Bengali) by Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941), no title [text unavailable]
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Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

by Gardner Read (1913 - 2005), "The First Jasmines", op. 45 no. 2 (1985), from Nocturnal Visions, no. 2 [sung text checked 1 time]
by Gardner Read (1913 - 2005), "The First Jasmines", op. 76 no. 2 (1949), published 1950 [ voice and piano ], from Songs to Children, no. 2, NY : Galaxy Music Corp. [sung text checked 1 time]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

Also set in Russian (Русский), a translation by Iv. Sabashnikov ; composed by Alexandr Mikhailovich Dzegelenok.
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 18
Word count: 168