Paper Boats
Paper Boats
Poem
Day by day I float my paper boats one
by one down the running stream.
In big black letters I write my name on
them and the name of the village where I live.
I hope that someone in some strange land
will find them and know who I am.
I load my little boats with shiuli flowers
from our garden, and hope that these blooms
of the dawn will be carried safely to land in
the night.
I launch my paper boats and look up into
the sky and see the little clouds setting their
white bulging sails.
I know not what playmate of mine in the
sky sends them down the air to race with my
boats!
When night comes I bury my face in my
arms and dream that my paper boats float on
and on under the midnight stars.
The fairies of sleep are sailing in them, and
the lading is their baskets full of dreams.
Notes
Written by Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941), original version may have been written in Bengali. If anyone knows the original language and/or can share the poem in Bengali, please email me. Thanks! -Mama Lisa
*****
Shiuli Flowers are a type of night blooming jasmine.
