countless seasons pass
drawing to the end of life
fading like flowers
worthy man has few worries
rewarded with endless joy
The challenge for Carpe Diem Weekend Meditation #51 Tagore’s “Endless Time”
is to capture the essence of a verse by Rabindranath Tagore in a haiku or tanka.
Endless Time
Time is endless in thy hands, my lord.
There is none to count thy minutes.
Days and nights pass and ages bloom and fade like flowers.
Thou knowest how to wait.
Thy centuries follow each other perfecting a small wild flower.
We have no time to lose,
and having no time we must scramble for a chance.
We are too poor to be late.
And thus it is that time goes by
while I give it to every querulous man who claims it,
and thine altar is empty of all offerings to the last.
At the end of the day I hasten in fear lest thy gate be shut;
but I find that yet there is time.
© Rabindranath Tagore
Worthy tanka as Charley would say!
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🙂 Merci!
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Beautiful tanka and illustration, Ken!
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Thank you, Kim. Sometimes, I enjoy editing my photos as much as I do writing.
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I have quite a few photos to download from my visit to Oxford this weekend. I’m looking forward to it. 🙂
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You have definitely and deftly distilled this poem to its essence–and I agree the photo is lovely.
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Thank you, Merril.
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This feels very autumn to me, poem and picture.
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Thank you, Claudia.
Autumn of life, as well.
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A gentle autumn tanka and artwork, Ken! Yet begging the question…how does one know if he’s worthy?
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The compression and expansion of time, at the same time…(K)
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We live it.
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Wonderful distillation Ken … chapeau!
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Thank you, sir!
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