Stand Still, O Beautiful End

With great trepidation I looked at the news item which screamed ‘The country’s first Nobel Prize, won by Rabindranath Tagore, way back in 1913, has been stolen. Both the medal and the citation are gone from the safety vault of the museum of Visva Bharati University, Santiniketan. Along with the Nobel, several other personal belongings of Tagore have also been stolen.’ All kinds off emotion rushed into me.

Who can steal a Nobel Prize? What will they do with it? Why steal a Nobel Prize? You cannot just put it in your showcase and show it to people that you have won a Nobel Prize. By stealing the prize you cannot be owner of the body of work of the poet whose two songs are national anthem of two different countries (India and Bangladesh). Even the National Anthem of Sri Lanka Sri Lanka Matha is translation of his poem by Ananda  Samarakoon, his student. He wrote nearly 2230 songs, 8 Novels, 84 stories, and nearly 1600 poems. At the age of 60 he took up painting which were unique in his own style. He also wrote essays, travelogues and set foot in 35 countries in 5 continents. Infact he was the first non European to win Nobel Prize for Literature.

Futile rage encompassed me. Feeling helpless I cursed everyone from the security staff to the politicians  for tis utter stupidity of the administration of Visva Bharati to keep the original on display instead of replicas, otherwise to have fool proof security with camera et al. to save the original.

Looking for comfort I had no other way but to reach out to the great poet to give me solace. Two poems gave me some solace.

Benediction

Bless this little heart, this white soul that has won the kiss of
heaven for our earth.
He loves the light of the sun, he loves the sight of his
mother’s face.
He has not learned to despise the dust, and to hanker after
gold.
Clasp him to your heart and bless him.
He has come into this land of an hundred cross-roads.
I know not how he chose you from the crowd, came to your door,
and grasped you hand to ask his way.
He will follow you, laughing the talking, and not a doubt in
his heart.
Keep his trust, lead him straight and bless him.
Lay your hand on his head, and pray that though the waves
underneath grow threatening, yet the breath from above may come and
fill his sails and waft him to the heaven of peace.
Forget him not in your hurry, let him come to your heart and
bless him.

Rabindranath Tagore

 

Stand still, O Beautiful End, for a moment, and say your last words in silence.
I bow to you and hold up my lamp to light you on your way

 

Well if could make that moment stand still I would have just replaced the original medallion and the citation with a copy so that those theifs could have worked very hard to take the fake ones with them only to find replicas available at the souvenir shop

 

Peace my heart…

Peace, my heart, let the time for the parting be sweet.
Let it not be a death but completeness.
Let love melt into memory and pain into songs.
Let the flight through the sky end in the folding of the wings over the nest.
Let the last touch of your hands be gentle like the flower of the night.
Stand still, O Beautiful End, for a moment, and say your last words in silence.
I bow to you and hold up my lamp to light you on your way.

~Rabindranath Tagore

– See more at: http://www.allspirit.co.uk/dying.html#peace

Peace my heart…

Peace, my heart, let the time for the parting be sweet.
Let it not be a death but completeness.
Let love melt into memory and pain into songs.
Let the flight through the sky end in the folding of the wings over the nest.
Let the last touch of your hands be gentle like the flower of the night.
Stand still, O Beautiful End, for a moment, and say your last words in silence.
I bow to you and hold up my lamp to light you on your way.

~Rabindranath Tagore

– See more at: http://www.allspirit.co.uk/dying.html#peace