5.30.2026

I do not know how to hide it

When I go alone at night to my love-tryst, birds do not sing, the 
wind does not stir, the houses on both sides of the street stand 
silent. 
It is my own anklets that grow loud at every step and I am ashamed. 
 
    When I sit on my balcony and listen for his footsteps, leaves do 
not rustle on the trees, and the water is still in the river like the 
sword on the knees of a sentry fallen asleep. 
    It is my own heart that beats wildly—I do not know how to 
quiet it. 
 
    When my love comes and sits by my side, when my body trembles 
and my eyelids droop, the night darkens, the wind blows out the 
lamp, and the clouds draw veils over the stars. 
 
    It is the jewel at my own breast that shines and gives light. I do 
not know how to hide it. 
 
[Rabindranath Tagore {1861-1941} 'IX' {When I go alone at night} from ‘The Gardener’, in Collected Poems and Prose of Rabindranath Tagore]

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