Rabindranath Tagore

The Gardener Rabindranath Tagore

SERVANT. Have mercy upon your servant, my queen!QUEEN. The assembly is over and my servants are all gone. Whydo you come at this late hour?SERVANT. When you have finished with others, that is my time. I come to ask what remains for your last servant to do. QUEEN. What can you expect when it is too late?SERVANT. Make me the gardener of your flower garden. QUEEN. What folly is this?SERVANT. I will give up my other work. I will throw my swords and lances down in the dust. Do not sendme to distant courts; do not bid me undertake new conquests. But make me the gardener of your flower garden. QUEEN. What will your duties be?SERVANT. The service of your idle days. I will keep fresh the grassy path where you walk in the morning, where your feet will be greeted with praise at every step bythe flowers eager for death. I will swing you in a swing among the branches of thesaptaparna, where the early evening moon will struggleto kiss your skirt through the leaves. I will replenish with scented oil the lamp that burns by yourbedside, and decorate your footstool with sandal and saffronpaste in wondrous designs