I wanted to tell you the deepest words of love." With these words begins The Gardener 41, one of the most beautiful and profound poems by Rabindranath Tagore, taken from the eponymous book, in English The Gardener, published in 1913, when he was awarded the Nobel Prize for #Literature, "for his deeply sensitive, fresh, and beautiful verses, through which, with consummate skill, he made his poetic thought, expressed in his own words in English, a part of Western literature."
#Poetry offers us a distorted image of love. The fear of declaring one's own feelings generates exactly the opposite: brutality, strength, and, we can affirm, violence.
It seems like a movie we've already seen. The brilliant poetry of Rabindranath Tagore tells us how the insecurity of a man, who believes himself strong in life, due to the fear of revealing his own feelings, ends up generating the opposite effect: contempt.
We could give this wonderful composition the title "The Unspoken Words That Generate Violence and Contempt."
The meaning of the song is easy to understand. A woman is forced to endure the worst because she was not lucky enough to hear the words of love from the man who desires her.
#Poem "The Gardener: 41" [Rabindranath Tagore]
I long to speak the deepest words I have to say to you; but I
dare not, for fear you should laugh.
That is why I laugh at myself and shatter my secret in jest.
I make light of my pain, afraid you should do so.
I long to tell you the truest words I have to say to you; but I
dare not, being afraid that you would not believe them.
That is why I disguise them in untruth, saying the contrary of
what I mean.
I make my pain appear absurd, afraid that you should do so.
I long to use the most precious words I have for you; but I dare
not, fearing I should not be paid with like value.
That is why I gave you hard names and boast of my callous
strength.
I hurt you, for fear you should never know any pain.
I long to sit silent by you; but I dare not lest my heart come
out at my lips.
That is why I prattle and chatter lightly and hide my heart
behind words.
I rudely handle my pain, for fear you should do so.
I long to go away from your side; but I dare not, for fear my
cowardice should become known to you.
That is why I hold my head high and carelessly come into your
presence.
Constant thrusts from your eyes keep my pain fresh for ever.
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