The sea of light | Thou art the sky and thou art the nest as well

by Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941)

Translation by Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941)

Thou art the sky and thou art the nest...

Language: English after the Bangla (Bengali)

Our translations: GER

Thou art the sky and thou art the nest as well.

O thou beautiful, there in the nest is thy love 
that encloses the soul with colours and sounds and odours.

There comes the morning 
with the golden basket in her right hand 
bearing the wreath of beauty, 
silently to crown the earth.

And there comes the evening 
over the lonely meadows deserted by herds, 
through trackless paths, carrying cool draughts of peace 
in her golden pitcher from the western ocean of rest.

But there, where spreads the infinite sky for the soul 
to take her flight in, reigns the stainless white radiance. 
There is no day nor night, nor form nor colour, 
and never, never a word.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

by Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941), no title, appears in Gitanjali, no. 67, 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), appears in গীতাঞ্জলি (Gitanjali), no. 67 [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 Alexander Commins Post (1931 - 2002), "The sea of light", 1989 [ alto and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Gwyneth Walker (b. 1947), "Thou art - Thou art the sky", 1999 [ SATB chorus and string quartet ], from The Golden Harp, no. 5 [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. 67, first published 1914 ; composed by Louis Durey.
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Also set in Italian (Italiano), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Franco Alfano.
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Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2010-11-03
Line count: 15
Word count: 118