The Gardener is a collection of lyric poems, which Tagore rendered into English prose from his Bengali verse. Many are love poems, spoken by young lovers, servants and passers-by, and they take in longing, tenderness and the passing of seasons and time. Others reflect more widely on life and youth. Unlike the devotional Gitanjali, this book is mainly about human love, in language that is graceful and direct.
Quotes
Ah me, why did they build my house by the road to the market town?
We do not stray out of all words into the ever silent; We do not raise our hands to the void for things beyond hope.
Please is frail like a dewdrop, while it laughs it dies. But sorrow is strong and abiding. Let sorrowful love wake in your eyes.
I am restless. I am athirst for faraway things. My soul goes out in a longing to touch the skirt of the dim distance. O Great Beyond, O the keen call of thy flute! I forget, I ever forget, that I have no wings to fly, that I am bound in this spot evermore.