When I [bring to you colour'd]1 toys, my child, I understand why there is such a play of colours On clouds, on water, and why flow'rs are painted in tints: When I give colour'd toys to you, my child. When I sing to make you dance, [I truly know why there is]2 music in leaves, And why waves send their chorus of voices To the heart of the listening earth: When I sing to make you dance.3 When I bring sweet things to your greedy hands, I know why there is honey in the cup of the flower And why fruits are secretly filled with sweet juice: When I bring sweet things to your greedy hands. When I kiss your face to make you smile, my darling, I surely understand what pleasure streams from the sky in morning light, and what delight that is that is which the summer breeze brings to my body - when I kiss you to make you smile.
M. Trotta sets stanzas 2, 3, 1
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)Note: in Gitanjali, the poem has no title; but in The Crescent
Moon, its title is "When and why"
Note: in Trotta's setting, in the last repeat of the first stanza, line 5 (stanza 2 of the original text), the added text "We are free" becomes "We are one." (see footnote 3)
1 Carpenter: "bring you coloured"
2 Trotta: "I know why there's"
3 Trotta adds "We are free"
Text Authorship:
- by Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941), no title, written 1913, appears in Gitanjali, no. 62, appears in The Crescent Moon, no. 9, 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, appears in গীতাঞ্জলি (Gitanjali), no. 62 [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 John Alden Carpenter (1876 - 1951), "When I bring to you colour’d toys", published 1914 [ voice and piano ], from Gitanjali (Song Offerings), no. 1, New York, G. Schirmer [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Darius Milhaud (1892 - 1974), "When and why", op. 36 no. 1 (1916), published 1923, first performed 1919 [ high voice and piano ], from Child Poems, no. 1, Éd. Composers Music Corporation [sung text not yet checked]
- by John Fitz Rogers (b. 1963), "When I bring to you coloured toys", 2008 [ soprano and piano ], from Songs of Time and Tide, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Michael John Trotta (b. 1978), "When I sing to make you dance", published 2012, stanzas 2,3,1 [ SSA chorus and piano with optional flute ], Carl Fischer [sung text checked 1 time]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Marie Luise Gothein (1863 - 1931) ; composed by Jan Pieter Hendrik van Gilse.
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 text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 18
Word count: 162
Bring ich dir buntes Spielzeug, mein Kind dann versteh, warum es ein Spiel gibt von Farben und Wolken und Wasser, warum die Blumen so farbig getönt sind - bring ich dir buntes Spielzeug, mein Kind. Wenn ich sing um dich tanzen zu lassen So weiß ich wahrlich warum Musik in den Blättern ist, warum die wogen den Chor der Stimmen zum Herzen der rauschenden Erde tragen - wenn ich sing, um dich tanzen zu lassen. Bring ich dir Süßigkeit für deine gierigen Händchen, weiß ich, weshalb es Honig gibt im Kelche der Blumen, warum die Früchte sich heimlich mit süßen Saften anfüllen – bring ich dir Süßigkeit für deine gierigen Händchen. Wenn ich dein Angesicht küsse, mein Liebling, dich lächeln zu machen, verstehe ich sicher die Lust, die vom Himmel herab in das Morgenlicht flutet, und welch Entzücken der Sommerwind meinem Leib zu machen.
Text Authorship:
Based on:
- a text in English by Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941), no title, written 1913, appears in Gitanjali, no. 62, appears in The Crescent Moon, no. 9, first published 1913
Based on:
- a text in Bangla (Bengali) by Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941), no title, appears in গীতাঞ্জলি (Gitanjali), no. 62 [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 Jan Pieter Hendrik van Gilse (1881 - 1944), "Bring ich dir buntes Spielzeug, mein Kind", 1915 [ soprano and instrumental ensemble ], from Drei Gesänge aus Rabindranath Tagore's Gitanjali, no. 2 [sung text checked 1 time]
Researcher for this page: Joost van der Linden [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2023-01-29
Line count: 18
Word count: 143