by Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941)
Translation by Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941)
On the seashore of endless worlds...
Language: English after the Bangla (Bengali)
Our translations: GER
On the seashore of endless worlds children meet. The infinite sky is motionless overhead and the restless water is boisterous. On the seashore of endless worlds the children meet with shouts and dances. They build their houses with sand and they play with empty shells. With withered leaves they weave their boats and smilingly float them on the vast deep. Children have their play on the seashore of worlds. They know not how to swim, they know not how to cast nets. Pearl fishers dive for pearls, merchants sail in their ships, while children gather pebbles and scatter them again. They seek not for hidden treasures, they know not how to cast nets. The sea surges up with laughter, and pale gleams the smile of the sea-beach. Death-dealing waves sing meaningless ballads to the children, even like a mother while rocking her baby's cradle. The sea plays with children, and pale gleams the smile of the sea-beach. On the seashore of endless worlds children meet. Tempest roams in the pathless sky, ships get wrecked in the trackless water, death is abroad and children play. On the seashore of endless worlds is the great meeting of children.
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
- by Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941), no title, appears in Gitanjali, no. 60, first published 1912 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in Bangla (Bengali) by Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941), no title, appears in গীতাঞ্জলি (Gitanjali), no. 60 [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 Marius Baranauskas (b. 1978), "On the seashore of endless worlds", 2002 [ SATB chorus and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by John Alden Carpenter (1876 - 1951), no title, alternate title: "On the Seashore of Endless Worlds", published 1914 [ voice and piano ], from Gitanjali (Song Offerings), no. 5, New York, G. Schirmer [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Paul Corfield Godfrey , "Passacaglia "On the Seashore of Endless Worlds"", op. 31 [ instrumental ensemble ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Ty Kroll , "On the seashore", 2004 [ SSAATTBB chorus a cappella ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by John Fitz Rogers (b. 1963), "On the seashore of endless worlds", 2008 [ soprano and piano ], from Songs of Time and Tide, no. 5 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Marion Verhaalen (b. 1930), "On the seashore of endless worlds", 1994 [ soprano, piano, string quartet, bass, flute, and bassoon ], from Song Cycle, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in Dutch (Nederlands), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Reine Colaço Osorio-Swaab.
- Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
- Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this page: Geoffrey Wieting
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 30
Word count: 196