Gitabitan, Fleeting Glance

Fleeting Glance

I Can see you just once in a while. Why can I not see you all the time? Why do the clouds of passions and idle desires in my heart obscure the full view of your face divine?

When I catch a fleeting glance of you, I tremble lest I lose you again; but — and this is strange — to my sorrow you pass away instantly, even as you appeared, like the lightning.

Tell me, Beloved, what can I do to keep you permanently before my eyes — yes, just before my eyes, for how can I have so much love as to hold you in my heart?

If you so command, I will sacrifice everything for the sake of your blessed self.

Original song মাঝে মাঝে তব দেখা পাই
Translation by Basanta Koomar Roy, "Rabindranath Tagore: The Man and His Poetry", Dodd, Mead&Co., New York, 1925

And another version:

NOW and then I see you Lord,
Why not always?
Why, when doubt creeps into my mind’s eye
can you not be seen?
When I behold you it is but for a glimmer
I always fear losing you.
Then in the blink of an eye you are gone.
Now and then I see you Lord,
Why not always?
Tell me how I can keep you in my sight forever?
Where can I find enough faith to keep you in my heart forever?
I won’t let myself stray,
I will put everything at stake,
And give up my worldly desires at once,
If you tell me how I can keep you in my sight forever.
Now and then I see you Lord,
Why not always?

Translation by Marian Chatterjee, unpublished manuscript, June 2013