If thou speakest not | If thou speakest not

by Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941)

Translation by Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941)

If thou speakest not

Language: English after the Bangla (Bengali)

Our translations: GER

If thou speakest not
I will fill my heart with thy silence
and endure it.
I will keep still
and wait like the night
with starry vigil 
and its head bent low with patience.
The morning will surely come,
the darkness will vanish,
and thy voice pour down
in golden streams
breaking through the sky.
Then thy words will take wing
in songs from every one
of my birds' nests,
and thy melodies
will break forth
in flowers in all
my forest groves.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

by Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941), no title, appears in Gitanjali, no. 19, 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. 19 [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 Margaret Carter Metcalf (d. 1957), "If thou speakest not ", 1921 [ high voice and piano ], from Four Poems, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
by Michael John Trotta (b. 1978), "I will keep still", published 2012 [ satb chorus a cappella ], Carl Fischer [sung text not yet checked]
by Gwyneth Walker (b. 1947), "Beloved - If you speakest not", 1999 [ SATB chorus and string quartet ], from The Golden Harp, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

Also set in French (Français), a translation by André Gide (1869 - 1951) , no title, appears in Gitanjali (L'Offrande lyrique), no. 19, first published 1914 ; composed by Jean-Émile-Paul Cras.
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Also set in Italian (Italiano), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Franco Alfano.
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Also set in Spanish (Español), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Washington Castro.
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Also set in Swedish (Svenska), a translation by Andrea Butenschön (1866 - 1948) , first published 1915 ; composed by Edvin Kallstenius.
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Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

SWE Swedish (Svenska) (Andrea Butenschön) , first published 1915

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2004-01-17
Line count: 19
Word count: 83