Stirring My Blood

In his forward of the second edition of poet Rabindranath Thakur's work, Song Offerings, Yeats wrote that Thakur's 113 poems, "stirred my blood as nothing has for years." The poet and his work are new to me, but the poems are lovely snippets, pregnant with beauty and wisdom reflective of a heart searching for God and the abundant life. Enjoy!

O now beneath your feet's dust let
My head kneel on the ground.
Yield up my arrogance to tears,
Let all my pride be drowned.
If glory to myself I offer
It is self-insult that I suffer-
And then I die within myself,
Turning around, around.
Yield up my arrogance to tears,
Let all my pride be drowned.


Let me not advertise myself
In various things I do-
But let my deeds fit your desire,
That your will may come through.
O for your true peace is my longing,
And your dear image's belonging.
Within my heart of lotus petal
May your shield be found.
Yield up my arrogance to tears,
Let all my pride be drowned.


"Strong Mercy"

My desires are many and my cry is pitiful,
but ever didst thou save me by hard refusals;
and this strong mercy has been wrought into my life through and through.
Day by day thou art making me worthy of the simple,
great gifts that thou gavest to me unasked---this sky and the light, this body and the
life and the mind---saving me from perils of overmuch desire.
There are times when I languidly linger
and times when I awaken and hurry in search of my goal;
but cruelly thou hidest thyself from before me.
Day by day thou art making me worthy of thy full acceptance by
refusing me ever and anon, saving me from perils of weak, uncertain desire




"Little of Me"

Let only that little be left of me
whereby I may name thee my all.
Let only that little be left of my will
whereby I may feel thee on every side,
and come to thee in everything,
and offer to thee my love every moment.

Let only that little be left of me
whereby I may never hide thee.
Let only that little of my fetters be left
whereby I am bound with thy will,
and thy purpose is carried out in my life---and that is the fetter of thy love.


"Beggarly Heart"

When the heart is hard and parched up,
come upon me with a shower of mercy.
When grace is lost from life,
come with a burst of song.
When tumultuous work raises its din on all sides shutting me out from
beyond, come to me, my lord of silence, with thy peace and rest.

When my beggarly heart sits crouched, shut up in a corner,
break open the door, my king, and come with the ceremony of a king.
When desire blinds the mind with delusion and dust, O thou holy one,
thou wakeful, come with thy light and thy thunder.


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