VILLAGE SONG by Sarojini Naidu


Full are my pitchers and far to carry,
Lone is the way and long,
Why, O why was I tempted to tarry
Lured by the boatmen’s song?
Swiftly the shadows of night are falling,
Hear, O hear, is the white crane calling,
Is it the wild owl’s cry?
There are no tender moonbeams to light me,
If in the darkness a serpent should bite me,
Or if an evil spirit should smite me,
Ram Re Ram! I shall die.

My brother will murmur, ‘Why doth she linger?’
My mother will wait and weep,
Saying, ‘O safe may the great gods bring her,
The Jamuna’s waters are deep…’
The Jamuna’s waters rush by so quickly,
The shadows of evening gather so thickly,
Like black birds in the sky…
O! if the storm breaks, what will betide me?
Safe from the lightning where shall I hide me?
Unless Thou succor my footsteps and guide me,
Ram Re Ram! I shall die.

Comments

  1. thank you very much for the poem..
    thanks a lot..
    so kind of you

    ReplyDelete
  2. I have known this poem and other poems by The Nightingale of India since I was a little boy and the late Mrs Baidu nee chattopadhyay older sibling of the late Harindranath Chattopadhyay poet,raconteur and actor . Although from Bengal they lived in Hyderabad where their father was the first principal of the Nizam's College. Her other poem put to music is the Bazaars of Hyderabad "what do you sell o ye merchants . Pity not much is mentioned of this illustrious family in schools and colleges . Ms LeelaNaIdu her equally famous daughter made a name for herself as a writer and an actress too. Every time I stopover in Delhi I hope to meet her some literary gathering or other but never so lucky.
    Sarojini was indeed the Nightingale of India .

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  3. The song is strongly appealing . It reveals the mental state of the girl who is desperate to go home . It reminds us of the poem The Solitary Reaper by william wordsworth .

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