Phalgun or Spring by Rabindranath Tagore

Phalgun or Spring was published posthumously by Visva Bharati, in a collection of published and unpublished poems by Tagore called Chitra Bichitra (Picturesque Potpouri) in 1954.

Phalgun* unfolds
       Bright blooms,
Branches laden with
        mango plumules.
Restless bees
         Hum a melody,
Bamboo woods murmur
          In harmony. 

The vibrant river-water
       Glitters and glimmers
In the moon light
    As the sandbank shimmers. 
The boat is tied to the shore. 
          The boatman is enticed
By the headiness
         Of the full moon night.

From the shores, a song 
         soars soulfully. 
A traveller plays the 
        Flute spontaneously.
The melody races 
          To distant fringes,
Crossing lonely
            Trails and ridges.

In a distant bed
    A dreamy-eyed boy, all alone, 
listens to the melody and 
     Imagines on his own… 
Late at night, 
         He is sailing avast, 
Crossing the moonlit seas, 
      With the moon for a raft. 
 
He travels all night,
     On the moon-craft,
The boat touches the
     Clouds that waft. 
As night passes into dawn, 
       Birds chirp in the woods, 
The moon-craft descends 
         Into the earth’s nook. 

*Month in the Bengali Calendar
(normally from mid-February to mid-March) 

This poem has been translated by Mitali Chakravarty with editorial input by Sohana Manzoor 

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