Qm^^iniMiIf 
 
 Book 
 
 r/IZ Gg 
 
 Copyr{glit}v'^_ 
 
 COPYRIGHT DEPOSm 
 
THE CYCLE OF SPRING 
 
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 
 
 NEW YORK • BOSTON • CHICAGO • DALLAS 
 ATLANTA • SAN FRANCISCO 
 
 MACMILLAN & CO., Limited 
 
 LONDON • BOMBAY • CALCUTTA 
 MELBOURNE 
 
 THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA. Ltd. 
 
 TORONTO 
 
THE 
 CYCLE OF SPRING 
 
 BY 
 
 SIR RABINDRANATH TAGORE 
 
 Nfm fork 
 THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 
 
 1917 
 
 All rights reserved 
 

 Copyright, 1917 
 
 By the MACMILLAN COMPANY 
 
 Set up and electrotyped. Published February, 1917. 
 
 FEB 24 1917 
 ©CID 46224 
 
 Kyt 
 
I DEDICATE THIS BOOK 
 
 TO MT BOYS OF THE SHANTINIRETAN 
 
 WHO HAVE FREED 
 
 THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH 
 
 HIDDEN IN THE HEART OF THIS OLD POET 
 
 AND TO DINENDRANATH 
 
 WHO IS 
 
 THE GUIDE OP THESE BOYS IN THEIR FESTIVALS 
 
 AND TREASURE HOUSE OF ALL MY SONGS 
 
THE CYCLE OF SPRING 
 
The greater part of the introductory por- 
 tion of this drama was translated from the 
 original Bengali by Mr. C. F. Andrews and 
 Prof. Nishikanta Sen and revised by the 
 author. 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 Characters of the Prelude 
 
 King, Vizier, General, (Buoy 
 Varma) 
 
 Chinese Ambassador, Pundit, (Sruti- 
 bhushan) 
 
 Poet, (Kabi-shekhar) Guards, Cour- 
 tiers, Herald 
 
 The stage is on two levels: the higher, at 
 the hack, for the Song-preludes alone, 
 concealed by a purple curtain; the 
 lower only being discovered when the 
 drop goes up. Diagonally across the 
 extreme left of the lower stage, is ar- 
 ranged the king's court, with various 
 platforms, for the various dignitaries 
 ascending to the canopied throne. The 
 body of the stage is left free for the 
 'Play' when that develops, 
 9 
 
10 THE CYCLE OF SPRING 
 
 [Enter some Courtiers.] 
 
 [The names of the speakers are not 
 given in the margin, as they can 
 easily be guessed.] 
 
 Hush! Hush! 
 
 What is the matter? 
 
 The King is in great distress. 
 
 How dreadful ! 
 
 Who is that over there, playing on 
 his flute .f^ 
 
 Why? What's the matter? 
 
 The King is greatly disturbed. 
 
 How dreadful! 
 
 What are those wild children doing, 
 making so much noise? 
 
 They are the Mandal family. 
 
 Then tell the Mandal family to keep 
 their children quiet. 
 
THE CYCLE OF SPRING 11 
 
 Where can that Vizier have gone 
 to? 
 
 Here I am. What's the matter? 
 
 Haven't you heard the news? 
 
 No, what? 
 
 The King is greatly troubled in his 
 mind. 
 
 Well, I've got some very important 
 news about the frontier war. 
 
 War we may have, but not the 
 news. 
 
 Then the Chinese Ambassador is 
 waiting to see His Majesty. 
 
 Let him wait. Anyhow he can't see 
 the King. 
 
 Can't see the King? — ^Ah, here is the 
 King at last. Look at him coming this 
 way, with a mirror in his hand. "Long 
 live the King. Long live the King." 
 
12 THE CYCLE OF SPRING 
 
 If it please Your Majesty, it is time 
 to go to the Court. 
 
 Time to go? Yes, time to go, but 
 not to the Court. 
 
 What does Your Majesty mean.f^ 
 
 Haven't you heard .^ The bell has 
 just been rung to dismiss the Court. 
 
 When.?> What bell.? We haven't 
 heard any bell. 
 
 How could you hear.f^ They have 
 rung it in my ears alone. 
 
 Oh, Sire. No one can have had the 
 impertinence to do that. 
 
 Vizier! They are ringing it now. 
 
 Pardon me. Sire, if I am very stupid; 
 but I cannot understand. 
 
 Look at this. Vizier, look at this. 
 
 Your Majesty's hair — 
 
THE CYCLE OF SPRING 13 
 
 Can't you see there's a bell-ringer 
 there? 
 
 Oh, Your Majesty. Are you playing 
 a joke? 
 
 The joke is not mine, but His, who 
 has got the whole world by the ear, and 
 is having His jest. Last night, when 
 the Queen was putting a garland of 
 jasmines round my neck, she cried out 
 with alarm,— ''King, what is this? 
 Here are two grey hairs behind your 
 ear. 
 
 Oh, please. Sire, don't worry so much 
 about a little thing like that. Why! 
 The royal physician — 
 
 Vizier! The founder of our dynasty 
 had his royal physician, too. But what 
 could he do? Death has left his card of 
 invitation behind my ear. The Queen 
 wanted, then and there, to pluck out 
 the grey hairs. But I said, — Queen, 
 what's the use? You may remove 
 
14 THE CYCLE OF SPRING 
 
 Death's invitation, but can you remove 
 Death, the Inviter? — So, for the pres- 
 ent, — 
 
 Yes, Sire, for the present, let us at- 
 tend to business. 
 
 Business, Vizier! I have no time for 
 business. Send for the Pundit. Send 
 for Sruti-bhushan. 
 
 y 
 
 But, Sire, the General, — 
 
 The General? — No, no, not the Gen- 
 eral. Send for the Pundit. 
 
 But, the news from the frontier — 
 
 Vizier, the news has come to me 
 from the last great frontier of all, 
 the frontier of Death. Send for the 
 Pundit. 
 
 But if Your Majesty will give me one 
 moment, the Ambassador from the 
 great Emperor of China — 
 
THE CYCLE OF SPRING 15 
 
 Vizier, a greater Emperor has sent 
 his embassy to me. Call Sruti-bhushan. 
 
 Very well, Sire. But your father-in- 
 law, — 
 
 It is not my father-in-law whom I 
 want now. Send for the Pundit. 
 
 But, if it please you to hear me this 
 once. The poet, Kabi-shekar, is wait- 
 ing with his new book called the "Gar- 
 den of Poesy." 
 
 Let your poet disport himself, jump- 
 ing about on the topmost branches of 
 his Garden of Poesy, but send for the 
 Pundit. 
 
 Very well. Sire. I will send for him 
 at once. 
 
 Tell him to bring his book of devo- 
 tions with him, called the " Ocean of 
 Renunciation." 
 
 Yes, Sire. 
 
16 THE CYCLE OF SPRING 
 
 But, Vizier. Who are those outside 
 making all that noise? Go out and stop 
 them at once. I must have peace. 
 
 If it please Your Majesty, there is a 
 famine in Nagapatam and the head- 
 men of the villages are praying to be 
 allowed to see your face. 
 
 My time is short, Vizier. I must 
 have peace. 
 
 They say their time is shorter. They 
 are at death's door. They too want 
 peace, — peace from the burning of 
 hunger. 
 
 Vizier! The burning of hunger is 
 quenched at last on the funeral pyre. 
 
 Then these wretched people, — 
 
 Wretched ! — ^Listen to the advice of a 
 wretched King to his wretched sub- 
 jects. It is futile to be impatient, and 
 try to break through the net of the in- 
 exorable Fisherman. Sooner or later, 
 
THE CYCLE OF SPRING 17 
 
 Death the Fisherman will have his 
 haul. 
 
 Well then? 
 
 Let me have the Pundit, and his book 
 of Renunciation. 
 
 And in this scarcity, — 
 
 Vizier! The real scarcity is of time, 
 and not of food. We are all suffering 
 from starvation of time. None of us 
 has enough of it, — neither the King, 
 nor his people. 
 
 Then,— 
 
 Then know, that our petitions for 
 more time will all go to the last fire of 
 doom. So why strain our voice in 
 prayer .f^ — Ah, here is Sruti-bhushan at 
 last. My reverence to you. 
 
 Pundit, do tell the King that the 
 Goddess of Fortune deserts him who 
 gives way to melancholy. 
 
18 THE CYCLE OF SPRING 
 
 Sruti-bhushan, what is my Vizier 
 whispering to you? 
 
 He tells me, King, to instruct you 
 in the ways of fortune. 
 
 What instruction can you give? 
 
 There is a verse in my book of devo- 
 tions which runs as follows: 
 
 Fortune, as fickle as lotus-flower. 
 Closes her favours when comes the hour. 
 Oh, foolish man, how can you trust her. 
 Who comes of a sudden, and goes in a 
 fluster? 
 
 Ah, Pundit. One breath of your 
 teaching blows out the false flame of 
 ambition. Our teacher has said: 
 
 ■*' Teeth fall out, hair grows grey. 
 Yet man clings to hope that plays him 
 false." 
 
 Well, King, now that you have intro- 
 duced the subject of hope, let me give 
 
THE CYCLE OF SPRING 19 
 
 you another verse from the " Ocean of 
 Renunciation." It runs as follows: 
 
 That fetters are binding^ all are aware; 
 But fetters of hope are strange, I declare, 
 Hope's captive is tossed in the whirlpool's 
 
 wake, 
 And only grows still when the fetters 
 
 break. 
 
 Ah, Pundit. Your words are price- 
 less. Vizier, give him a hundred gold 
 sequins at once. What's that noise 
 outside.^ 
 
 It is the famine-stricken people. 
 
 Tell them to hold their peace. 
 
 Let Sruti-bhushan, with his book of 
 devotions, go and try to bring them 
 peace; and, in the meanwhile. Your 
 Majesty might discuss war matters, — 
 
 No, no. Let the war matters come 
 later. I can't let Sruti-bhushan go yet. 
 
20 THE CYCLE OF SPRING 
 
 King, you said something to me, a 
 moment ago, about a gift of gold. Now 
 mere gold, by itself, does not confer any 
 permanent benefit. It is said in my 
 book of devotions, called the " Ocean of 
 Renunciation," 
 
 He who gives gold, gives only pain; 
 When the gold is spent grief comes again. 
 When a lakh, or crore, of gold is spent. 
 Grief only remains in the empty tent. 
 
 Ah, Pundit. How exquisite. So you 
 don't want any gold, my Master .^^ 
 
 No, King, I don't want gold, but 
 something more permanent, which 
 would make your merit permanent 
 also. I should be quite content, if you 
 gave me the living of Kanchanpur. 
 For it is said in the "Renunciation" — 
 
 No, Pundit, I quite understand. 
 You needn't quote scripture to support 
 your claim. I understand quite well, — 
 Vizier! 
 
THE CYCLE OF SPRING 21 
 
 Yes, Your Majesty. 
 
 See that the rich province of Kan- 
 chanpur is settled on the Pundit. — 
 What's the matter now outside there? 
 What are they crying for? 
 
 If it please Your Majesty, it is the 
 people. 
 
 Why do they cry so repeatedly? 
 
 Their cry is repeated, I admit, but the 
 reason remains most monotonously the 
 same. They are starving. 
 
 But, King, I must tell you before I 
 forget it. It is the one desire of my wife 
 to make her whole body jingle, from 
 head to foot, in praise of your munifi- 
 cence; but, alas, the sound is too feeble 
 for want of proper ornaments. 
 
 I understand you. Pundit. Vizier! 
 Order ornaments from the Court Jewel- 
 ler for Sruti-bhushan's wife imme- 
 diately. 
 
22 THE CYCLE OF SPRING 
 
 And, King, while he is about it, 
 would you tell the Vizier, that we are 
 both of us distracted in our devotions 
 by house-repairs. Let him ask the 
 royal masons to put up a thoroughly 
 well-built house, where we can practise 
 our devotions in peace. 
 
 Very well. Pundit, — Vizier! 
 
 Yes, Your Majesty. 
 
 Give the order at once. 
 
 Sire, your treasury is empty. Funds 
 are wanting. 
 
 Pooh! That's an old story. I hear 
 that every year. It is your business to 
 increase the funds, and mine to increase 
 the wants. What do you say, Sruti- 
 bhushan.f^ 
 
 King, I cannot blame the Vizier. He 
 is looking after your treasures in this 
 world. We are looking after your treas- 
 ures in the next. So where he sees 
 
THE CYCLE OF SPRING 23 
 
 want, we see wealth. Now, if you 
 would only let me dive deep once more 
 into the "Ocean of Renunciation" you 
 will find it written as follows: 
 
 That King^s coffers are well stored. 
 Where wealth alone on worth is poured. 
 
 Pundit, your company is most val- 
 uable. 
 
 Your Majesty, Sruti-bhushan knows 
 its value to a farthing. Come, Sruti- 
 bhushan, make haste. Let us collect all 
 the wealth you need for your Treasury 
 of Devotion. For wealth has the ugly 
 habit of diminishing fast. If we are 
 not quick about it, little will remain to 
 enable us to observe our renunciation 
 with all splendour. 
 
 Yes, Vizier, let us go at once. {To 
 the King.) When he is making such a 
 fuss about a tiny matter like this, it is 
 best to pacify him first and then return 
 to you afterwards. 
 
U THE CYCLE OF SPRING 
 
 Pundit, I am afraid that, some day, 
 you will leave my royal protection al- 
 together, and retire to the forest. 
 
 King, so long as I find contentment 
 in a King's palace, it is as good as a 
 hermitage for my peace of mind. I 
 must now leave you. King. Vizier, let 
 us go. 
 
 [The Vizier and Pundit go out] 
 
 Oh dear me! Whatever shall I do.^ 
 Here's the Poet coming. I am afraid 
 he'll make me break all my good resolu- 
 tions. — Oh, my grey hairs, cover my 
 ears, so that the Poet's allurements 
 may not enter. 
 
 Why, King, what's the matter? I 
 hear you want to send away your Poet. 
 
 What have I to do with poets, when 
 poetry brings me this parting message.'^ 
 
 What parting message? 
 
 Look at this behind my ear. Don't 
 you see it? 
 
THE CYCLE OF SPRING 25 
 
 See what? Grey hairs? Why, King, 
 don't you worry about that. 
 
 Poet, Nature is trying to rub out the 
 green of youth, and to paint everything 
 white. 
 
 No, no. King. You haven't under- 
 stood the artist. On that white ground. 
 Nature will paint new colours. 
 
 I don't see any sign of colours yet. 
 
 They are all within. In the heart of 
 the white dwell all the colours of the 
 rainbow. 
 
 O, Poet, do be quiet. You disturb 
 me when you talk like that. 
 
 King, if this youth fades, let it fade. 
 Another Queen of Youth is coming. 
 And she is putting a garland of pure 
 white jasmines round your head, in 
 order to be your bride. The wedding 
 festival is being made ready, behind 
 the scene. 
 
26 THE CYCLE OF SPRING 
 
 Oh, dear, Poet. You will undo every- 
 thing. Do go away. Ho there. Guard. 
 Go at once and call Sruti-bhushan. 
 
 What will you do with him, King, 
 when he comes.? 
 
 I will compose my mind, and prac- 
 tise my renunciation. 
 
 Ah, King, when I heard that news, I 
 came at once. For I can be your com- 
 panion in this practice of renunciation. 
 
 You.? 
 
 Yes, I, King. We, Poets, exist for 
 this very purpose. We set men free 
 from their desires. 
 
 I don't understand you. You talk 
 in riddles. 
 
 What.? You don't understand me? 
 And yet you have been reading my 
 poems all this while! — There is renun- 
 ciation in our words, renunciation in 
 the metre, renunciation in our music. 
 
THE CYCLE OF SPRING 27 
 
 That is why fortune always forsakes us; 
 and we, in turn always forsake fortune. 
 We go about, all day long, initiating 
 the youths in the sacred cult of fortune- 
 forsaking. 
 
 What does it say to us? 
 
 It says: 
 
 Ah, brothers, don't cling to your goods 
 
 and chattels, 
 And sit ever in the corner of your room. 
 Come out, come out into the open 
 
 world. 
 Come out into the highways of life. 
 Come out, ye youthful Renouncers. 
 
 But, Poet, do you really mean to say 
 that the highway of the open world is 
 the pathway of renunciation.^ 
 
 Why not. King? In the open world 
 all is change, all is life, all is movement. 
 And he who ever moves and journeys 
 with this life-movement, dancing and 
 playing on his flute as he goes, he is the 
 
^8 THE CYCLE OF SPRING 
 
 'rue Renouncer. He is the true dis- 
 ciple of the minstrel Poet. 
 
 But how then can I get peace? I 
 must have peace. 
 
 Oh, King, we haven't the least desire 
 for peace. We are the Renouncers. 
 
 But ought we not to get that treas- 
 ure, which is said to be never-changing .^^ 
 
 No, we don't covet any never- 
 changing treasures. We are the Re- 
 nouncers. 
 
 What do you mean? Oh, dear. Poet, 
 you will undo everything, if you talk 
 like that. You are destroying my peace 
 of mind. Call Sruti-bhushan. Let some 
 one call the Pundit. 
 
 What I mean. King, is this. We are 
 the true Renouncers, because change 
 is our very secret. We lose, in order 
 to find. We have no faith in the never- 
 changing. <l 
 
THE CYCLE OF SPRING 29 
 
 What do you mean? 
 
 Haven't you noticed the detachment 
 
 of the rushing river, as it runs splashing 
 
 from its mountain cave? It gives itself 
 
 away so swiftly, and only thus it finds 
 
 itself. What is never-changing, for the 
 
 river, is the desert sand, where it loses 
 
 its course. 
 
 '^ 
 ' Ah, but listen, Poet — listen to those 
 
 cries there outside. That is your world. 
 
 How do you deal with that? 
 
 King, they are your starving people. 
 
 My people, Poet? Why do you call 
 them that? They are the world's peo- 
 ple, not mine. Have I created their 
 miseries? What can your youthful 
 Poet Renouncers do to relieve suflferings 
 like theirs? Tell me that. 
 
 King, it is we alone who can truly 
 bear those sufferings, because we are 
 like the river that flows on in gladness, 
 
30 THE CYCLE OF SPRING 
 
 thus lightening our burden, and the 
 burden of the world.f But the hard, 
 metalled road is fixed and never- 
 changing. And so it makes the burden 
 more burdensome. The heavy loads 
 groan and creak along it, and cut deep 
 gashes in its breast. We, Poets, call to 
 everyone to carry all their joys and 
 sorrows lightly, in a rhythmic measure. 
 ^l^Our call is the Renouncers' call. 
 
 Ah, Poet, now I don't care a straw 
 for Sruti-bhushan. Let the Pundit go 
 hang. But, do you know what my 
 trouble is now.^^ Though I can't, for 
 the life of me, understand your words, 
 the music haunts me. Now, it's just 
 the other way round with the Pundit. 
 His words are clear enough, and they 
 obey the rules of syntax quite correctly. 
 But the tune! — No, it's no use telling 
 you any further. 
 
 ^ King, our words don't speak, they 
 sing. 
 
THE CYCLE OF SPRING 31 
 
 Well, Poet, what do you want to do 
 now? 
 
 King, I'm going to have a race 
 through those cries, which are rising 
 outside your gate. 
 
 What do you mean? Famine rehef 
 is for men of business. Poets oughtn't 
 to have anything to do with things 
 Hke that, f * 
 
 King, business men always make 
 their business so out of tune. That is 
 why we, Poets, hasten to tune it. 
 
 Now come, my dear Poet, do speak 
 in plainer language. 
 
 King, they work, because they must. 
 We work, because we are in love with 
 life. That is why they condemn us as 
 unpractical, and we condemn them as 
 lifeless. 
 
 But who is right. Poet? Who wins? 
 You, or they? 
 
32 THE CYCLE OF SPRING 
 
 We, King, we. We always win. 
 
 But, Poet, your proof, — 
 
 King, the greatest things in the world 
 disdain proof. But if you could for a 
 time wipe out all the poets and all their 
 poetry from the world, then you would 
 soon discover, by their very absence, 
 where the men of action got their en- 
 ergy from, and who really supplied the 
 life-sap to their harvest-field. It is not 
 those who have plunged deep down into 
 the Pundit's Ocean of Renunciation, 
 nor those who are always clinging to 
 their possessions; it is not those who 
 have become adepts in turning out 
 quantities of work, nor those who are 
 ever telling the dry beads of duty, — it 
 is not these who win at last. But it is 
 those who love, because they live. 
 These truly win, for they truly sur- 
 render. They accept pain with all 
 their strength and with all their 
 strength they remove pain. It is they 
 
THE CYCLE OF SPRING 33 
 
 who create, because they know the 
 secret of true joy, which is the secret 
 of detachment. 
 
 Well then, Poet, if that be so, what 
 do you ask me to do now? 
 
 I ask you. King, to rise up and move. 
 That cry outside yonder is the cry of 
 life to life. And if the life within you 
 is not stirred, in response to that call 
 without, then there is cause for anxiety 
 indeed, — not because duty has been 
 neglected, but because you are dying. 
 
 But, Poet, surely we must die, sooner 
 or later .f^ 
 
 No, King, that's a lie. When we feel 
 for certain that we are alive, then we 
 know for certain that we shall go on 
 living. Those who have never put life 
 to the test, in all possible ways, these 
 keep on crying out, — 
 
 Life is fleeting. Life is waning. 
 Life is like a dew drop on a lotus leaf. 
 
34 THE CYCLE OF SPRING 
 
 But, isn't life inconstant? 
 
 Only because its movement is un- 
 ceasing. The moment you stop this 
 movement, that moment you begin to 
 play the drama of Death. 
 
 Poet, are you speaking the truth .^^ 
 Shall we really go on living.? 
 
 Yes, we shall really go on living. 
 
 Then, Poet, if we are going to go on 
 living, we must make our life worth its 
 eternity. Is not that so? 
 
 Yes, indeed. 
 
 Ho, Guard. 
 
 Yes, your Royal Highness. 
 
 Call the Vizier at once. 
 
 Yes, your Royal Highness. 
 
 [Vizier enters.] 
 
 What is Your Majesty's pleasure? 
 
THE CYCLE OF SPRING 35 
 
 Vizier ! Why on earth have you kept 
 me waiting so long? 
 
 I was very busy, Your Majesty. 
 
 Busy? What were you busy about? 
 
 I was dismissing the General. 
 
 Why should you dismiss the General? 
 We have got to discuss war matters 
 with him. 
 
 And arrangements had to be made 
 for the state-departure of the Chinese 
 Ambassador. 
 
 What do you mean by his state- 
 departure? 
 
 If it please Your Majesty, you did 
 not grant him an interview. So he — 
 
 Vizier ! You surprise me. Is this the 
 way you manage state affairs? What 
 has happened to you? Have you lost 
 your senses? 
 
 Then, again. Sire, I was trying to 
 
36 THE CYCLE OF SPRING 
 
 find a way to pull down the Poet's 
 house. At first, no one would under- 
 take it. Then, at last, all the Pundits 
 of the Royal School of Grammar and 
 Logic came up with their proper tools 
 and set to work. 
 
 Vizier! Are you mad this morning? 
 Pull down the Poet's house .^^ Why, 
 you might as well kill all the birds in 
 the garden and make them up into a 
 pie. 
 
 If it please Your Majesty, you need 
 not be annoyed. We shan't have to 
 pull down the house after all; for the 
 moment Sruti-bhushan heard it was to 
 be demolished, he decided to take pos- 
 session of it himself. 
 
 What, Vizier! That's worse still. 
 Why! The Goddess of Music would 
 break her harp in pieces against my 
 head, if she even heard of such a thing. 
 No, that can't be. 
 
THE CYCLE OF SPRING 37 
 
 Then, Your Majesty, there was an- 
 other thing to be got through. We had 
 to dehver over the province of Kan- 
 chanpur to the Pundit. 
 
 No, Vizier! What a mess you are 
 making. That must go to our Poet. 
 
 To me, King.^ No. My poetry never 
 accepts reward. 
 
 Well, well. Let the Pundit have it. 
 
 And, last of all. Sire. I have issued 
 orders to the soldiers to disperse the 
 crowd of famine-stricken people. 
 
 Vizier, you are doing nothing but 
 blunder. The best way to disperse the 
 famished people is with food, not force. 
 
 [Guard enters.] 
 
 May it please your Royal Highness. 
 
 What's the matter. Guard? 
 
 May it please your Royal Highness, 
 here is Sruti-bhushan, the Pundit, com- 
 ing back with his Book of Devotions. 
 
38 THE CYCLE OF SPRING 
 
 Oh, stop him, Vizier, stop him. He 
 will undo everything. Don't let him 
 come upon me unawares like this. In 
 a moment of weakness, I may suddenly 
 find myself out of my depths in the 
 Ocean of Renunciation. Poet! Don't 
 give me time for that. Do something. 
 Do anything. Have you got anything 
 ready to hand.^^ Any play toward.^ 
 Any poem.'^ Any masque.^ Any — 
 
 Yes, King. I have got the very 
 thing. But whether it is a drama, or 
 a poem, or a play, or a masque, I can- 
 not say. 
 
 Shall I be able to understand the 
 sense of what you have written? 
 
 No, King, what a poet writes is not 
 meant to have any sense. 
 
 What then? 
 
 To have the tune itself. 
 
 What do you mean? Is there no 
 philosophy in it? 
 
THE CYCLE OF SPRING 39 
 
 No, none at all, thank goodness. 
 
 What does it say, then? 
 
 King, it says "I exist." Don't you 
 know the meaning of the first cry of 
 the new-born child .^ The child, when 
 it is born, hears at once the cries of the 
 earth and water and sky, which sur- 
 round him, — and they all cry to him, — 
 "We exist," and his tiny little heart 
 responds, and cries out in its turn, — 
 "I exist." — My poetry is like the cry 
 of that new-born child. It is a re- 
 sponse to the cry of the Universe. 
 
 Is it nothing more than that, Poet.'^ 
 
 No, nothing more. There is life in 
 my song, which cries, — "In joy and in 
 sorrow, in work and in rest, in life and 
 in death, in victory and in defeat, in 
 this world and in the next, all hail to 
 the 'I exist.'" 
 
 Well, Poet, I can assure you, if your 
 
40 THE CYCLE OF SPRING 
 
 play hasn't got any philosophy in it, it 
 won't pass muster in these days. 
 
 That's true, King. The newer peo- 
 ple, of this modern age, are more eager 
 to amass than to realize. They are, 
 in their generation, wiser than the chil- 
 dren of light. 
 
 Whom shall we ask, then, for an 
 audience.^ Shall we ask the young 
 students of our royal school.^ 
 
 No, King, they cut up poetry with 
 their logic. They are like the young- 
 horned deer trying their new horns on 
 the flower beds. 
 
 Whom should I ask, then.^^ 
 
 Ask those whose hair is turning grey. 
 
 What do you mean. Poet? 
 
 The youth of these middle-aged peo- 
 ple is a youth of detachment. They 
 have just crossed the waters of pleas- 
 ure, and are in sight of the land of pure 
 
THE CYCLE OF SPRING 41 
 
 gladness. They don't want to eat fruit, 
 but to produce it. 
 
 I, at least, have now reached that 
 age of discretion, and ought to be able 
 to appreciate your songs. Shall I ask 
 the General.^ 
 
 Yes, ask him. 
 
 And the Chinese Ambassador.^ 
 
 Yes, ask him too. 
 
 I hear my father-in-law has come. 
 
 Well, ask him too, but I have my 
 doubts about his youthful sons. 
 
 But don't forget his daughter. 
 
 Don't worry about her. She won't 
 let herself be forgotten. 
 
 And Sruti-bhushan.^ Shall I ask him.^ 
 
 No, King, no. Decidedly, no. I 
 have no grudge against him. Why 
 should I inflict this on him.^ 
 
42 THE CYCLE OF SPRING 
 
 Very well, Poet. Off with you. 
 Make your stage preparations. 
 
 No, King. We are going to act this 
 play, without any special preparations. 
 Truth looks tawdry when she is over- 
 dressed. 
 
 But, Poet, there must be some can- 
 vas for a back-ground. 
 
 No. Our only back-ground is the 
 mind. On that we shall summon up 
 a picture with the magic wand of music, 
 
 Are there any songs in the play.^ 
 
 Yes, King. The door of each act 
 will be opened by the key of song. 
 
 What is the subject of the songs .^^ 
 
 The Disrobing of Winter. 
 
 But, Poet, we haven't read about 
 that in any Mythology. 
 
 In the world-myth this song come§ 
 round in its turn. In the play of the 
 
THE CYCLE OF SPRING 43 
 
 seasons, each year, the mask of the Old 
 Man, Winter, is pulled off, and the form 
 of Spring is revealed in all its beauty. 
 Thus we see that the old is ever new. 
 
 Well, Poet, so much for the songs: 
 but what about the remainder? 
 
 Oh, that is all about life. 
 
 Life? What is life? 
 
 This is how it runs, — a band of young 
 companions has run off in pursuit of 
 one Old Man. They have taken a vow 
 to catch him. They enter into a cave; 
 they take hold of him; and then — 
 
 Then, what? What did they see? 
 
 Ah. That will be told in its own good 
 time. 
 
 But, I haven't understood one thing. 
 Your drama and your songs, — have 
 they different subjects, or the same? 
 
 The same, King. The play of Spring 
 
44 THE CYCLE OF SPRING 
 
 in nature is the counterpart of the play 
 of Youth in our Kves. It is simply from 
 the lyrical drama of the World Poet, 
 that I have stolen this plot. 
 
 Who, then, are the chief characters? 
 
 One is called the Leader. 
 
 Who is he, Poet.?^ 
 
 He is the guiding impulse in our life. 
 Another is Chandra. 
 
 Who is he? 
 
 He who makes life dear to us. 
 
 And who else? 
 
 Then there is Dada, to whom duty 
 is the essence of life, not joy. 
 
 Is there anyone else? 
 
 Yes, the blind Minstrel. 
 
 Blind? 
 
 Because he does not see with his 
 
THE CYCLE OF SPRING 45 
 
 eyes, therefore he sees with his whole 
 body and mind and soul. 
 
 Who else is there, in your play, 
 among the chief actors? 
 
 You are there, King. 
 
 I? 
 
 Yes, you. King. For if you stayed 
 out of it, instead of coming into it, 
 then the King would begin to abuse 
 the Poet and send for Sruti-bhushan 
 again. And then there would be no 
 hope of salvation for him. For the 
 World Poet himself would be defeated. 
 And the South Wind of Spring would 
 have to retire, without receiving its 
 homage. 
 
ACT I 
 
 The Heralds of Spring are abroad. There 
 are songs in the rustling bamboo leaves, 
 in birds' nests, and in blossoming 
 branches. 
 
 SONG-PRELUDE 
 
 The purple secondary curtain * goes up 
 disclosing the elevated rear stage with a 
 skyey background of dark blue on 
 which appear the horn of the crescent 
 moon and the silver points of stars. 
 Trees in the foreground with two rope 
 swings entwined with garlands of flow- 
 ers. Flowers everywhere in profusion. 
 On the extreme left the mouth of a dark 
 cavern dimly seen. Boys representing 
 the 'Bamboo' disclosed, swinging. 
 
 *Note: neither the secondary curtain nor 
 the drop is again used during the play. The 
 action is continuous, either on the front stage, 
 or on the rear stage, the latter being darkened 
 when not actually in use. 
 46 
 
THE CYCLE OF SPRING 47 
 Song of the Bamboo 
 
 South Wind, the Wanderer, come and 
 
 rock me. 
 Rouse me into the rapture of new 
 leaves, 
 
 1 am the wayside bamboo tree, waiting 
 
 for your breath 
 To tingle life into my branches. 
 
 South Wind, the Wanderer, my dwell- 
 ing is in the end of the lane. 
 I know your wayfaring, and the lan- 
 guage of your footsteps. 
 
 Your least touch thrills me out of 
 
 my slumber. 
 Your whisper gleans my secrets. 
 
 [Enter a troop of girls, dancing, repre- 
 senting birds,] 
 
 Song of the Brno 
 
 The sky pours its light into our hearts. 
 We fill the sky with songs in answer. 
 We pelt the air with our notes 
 
48 THE CYCLE OF SPRING 
 
 When the air stirs our wings with its 
 madness. 
 
 Flame of the Forest, 
 
 All your flower-torches are ablaze; 
 
 You have kissed our songs red with the 
 passion of your youth. 
 
 In the spring breeze the mango-blossoms 
 launch their messages to the unknown 
 
 And the new leaves dream aloud all 
 day. 
 
 Sirish, you have cast your perfume- 
 net round our hearts 
 
 Drawing them out in songs. 
 
 [Disclosed among the branches of trees, 
 suddenly lighted up, boys represent- 
 ing Champak blossoms.] 
 
 Song of the Blossoming Champak 
 
 My shadow dances in your waves, ever- 
 flowing river, 
 
 I, the blossoming champak, stand un- 
 moved on the bank, with my flower- 
 vigils. 
 
THE CYCLE OF SPRING 49 
 
 My movement dwells in the stillness of 
 my depths 
 
 In the delicious birth of new 
 leaves. 
 In flood of flowers. 
 In unseen urge of new life towards 
 the light. 
 Its stirring thrills the sky, and the silence 
 of the dawn is moved. 
 
Morning 
 
 [The rear stage is now darkened. On the 
 main stage, bright, enter a hand of 
 youths whose number may be any- 
 thing between three and thirty. They 
 sing.] 
 
 The fire of April leaps from forest to 
 forest. 
 Flashing up in leaves and flowers from 
 all nooks and corners. 
 The sky is thriftless with colours, 
 
 The air delirious with songs. 
 The wind-tost branches of the woodland 
 Spread their unrest in our blood. 
 The air is filled with bewilderment of 
 mirth; 
 And the breeze rushes from fiower to 
 flower, asking their names, 
 
 [In the following dialogue only the 
 names of the principal characters 
 are given. Wherever the name is 
 50 
 
THE CYCLE OF SPRING 51 
 
 not given the speaker is one or 
 other of the Youths.] 
 
 April pulls hard, brother, April pulls 
 very hard. 
 
 How do you know that? 
 
 If he didn't, he would never have 
 pulled Dada outside his den. 
 
 Well, I declare. Here is Dada, 
 our cargo-boat of moral-maxims, towed 
 against the current of his own pen and 
 ink. 
 
 Chandra 
 
 But you mustn't give April all the 
 credit for that. For, I, Chandra, have 
 hidden the yellow leaves of his manu- 
 script book among the young buds of 
 the pial forest, and Dada is out looking 
 for it. 
 
 The manuscript book banished! 
 What a good riddance! 
 
52 THE CYCLE OF SPRING 
 
 We ought to strip oflF Dada's grey 
 philosopher's cloak also. 
 
 Chandra 
 
 Yes, the very dust of the earth is 
 tingling with youth, and yet there's 
 not a single touch of Spring in the whole 
 of Dada's body. 
 
 Dada 
 
 Oh, do stop this fooling. What a 
 nuisance you are making of yourselves ! 
 We aren't children any longer. 
 
 Chandra 
 
 Dada, the age of this earth is scarcely 
 less than yours and yet it is not 
 ashamed to look fresh. 
 
 Dada, you are always struggling 
 with those quatrains of yours, full of 
 advice that is as old as death, while 
 the earth and the water are ever striv- 
 ing to be new. 
 
THE CYCLE OF SPRING 53 
 
 Dada, how in the world can you go 
 on writing verses Hke that, sitting in 
 your den? 
 
 Dada 
 
 Well, you see, I don't cultivate poe- 
 try, as an amateur gardener cultivates 
 flowers. My poems have substance and 
 weight in them. 
 
 Yes, they are like the turnips, which 
 cling to the ground. 
 
 Dada 
 Well, then, listen to me, — 
 
 How awful! Here's Dada going to 
 run amuck with his quatrains. 
 
 Oh dear. Oh dear! The quatrains 
 are let loose. There's no holding them 
 in. 
 
 To all passers by I give notice, that 
 Dada's quatrains have gone mad, and 
 are running amuck. 
 
54 THE CYCLE OF SPRING 
 
 Chandra 
 
 Dada ! Don't take any notice of their 
 fun. Go on with your reading. If no 
 one else can survive it, I think I can. 
 I am not a coward Hke these fellows. 
 
 Come on, then, Dada. We won't be 
 cowards. We will keep our ground, 
 and not yield an inch, but only listen. 
 
 We will receive the spear-thrusts of 
 the quatrains on our breast, not on 
 our back. 
 
 But for pity's sake, Dada, give us 
 only one, — not more. 
 
 Dada 
 Very well. Now listen: 
 
 If bamboos were made only into flutes, 
 They would droop and die with very 
 
 shame, 
 They hold their heads high in the sky. 
 Because they are variously useful. 
 
THE CYCLE OF SPRING 55 
 
 Please, gentlemen, don't laugh. Have 
 patience while I explain. The meaning 
 is — 
 
 The meaning .f^ 
 
 What.^ Must the infantry charge of 
 meaning follow the cannonading of 
 your quatrains, to complete the rout.^ 
 
 Dada 
 
 Just one word to make you under- 
 stand. It means, that if the bamboos 
 were no better than those noisy instru- 
 ments, — 
 
 No, Dada, we must not understand. 
 
 I defy you to make us understand. 
 
 Dada, if you use force to make us 
 understand, we shall use force to force 
 ourselves not to understand. 
 
 Dada 
 
 The gist of the quatrain is this, that 
 if we do no good to the world, then, — 
 
56 THE CYCLE OF SPRING 
 
 Then the world will be very greatly 
 relieved. 
 
 Dada 
 
 There is another verse, that makes it 
 clearer : 
 
 There are numerous stars in the midnight 
 
 sky. 
 Which hang in the air for no purpose; 
 If they would only come down to earth. 
 For the street lighting they might be useful. 
 
 I see we must make clearer our 
 meaning. Catch him. Let's raise him 
 up, shoulder high, and take him back 
 to his den. 
 
 Dada 
 
 Why are you so excited to-day? 
 Have you any particular business to do.'^ 
 
 Yes, we have very urgent business, — 
 very urgent indeed. 
 
 Dada 
 What is your business about .^ 
 
THE CYCLE OF SPRING 57 
 
 We are out to seek a play for our 
 Spring festival. 
 
 Dada 
 Play! Day and night, play! 
 
 [They sing.] 
 We are free, my friends , from the fear of 
 work. 
 For we know that work is play, — the 
 play of life. 
 It is Play, to fight and toss, between life 
 
 and death; 
 It is Play that flashes in the laughter of 
 light in the infinite hearts- 
 It roars in the wind, and surges in the 
 sea. 
 
 Oh, here comes our Leader. Broth- 
 ers, — our Leader, our Leader. 
 
 Leader 
 Hallo! What a noise you make! 
 
 Was it that which made you come 
 out of doors .^ 
 
58 THE CYCLE OF SPRING 
 
 Leader 
 
 Yes. 
 
 Well, we did it for that very purpose. 
 
 Leader 
 
 You don't want me to remain in- 
 doors.^ 
 
 Why remain indoors.'^ This outer 
 world has been made with a lavish 
 expenditure of sun and moon and stars. 
 Let us enjoy it, and then we can save 
 God's face for indulging in such ex- 
 travagance. 
 
 Leader 
 
 What were you discussing.'^ 
 
 This: 
 
 [They sing.] 
 
 Play blooms in flower and ripens in 
 
 fruit 
 In the sunshine of eternal youth. 
 Play bursts up in the blood-red fire, and 
 
 licks into ashes the decaying and 
 
 the dead. 
 
THE CYCLE OF SPRING 59 
 
 Our Dada's objection was about this 
 play. 
 
 Dada 
 Shall I tell you the reason why? 
 
 Yes, Dada, you may tell us, but we 
 shan't promise to listen. 
 
 Dada 
 Here it is : 
 
 Time is the capital of work. 
 
 And Play is its defalcation. 
 
 Play rifles the house, and then wastes its 
 spoil, 
 
 Therefore the wise call it worse than use- 
 less, 
 
 Chandra 
 
 But surely, Dada, you are talking 
 nonsense. Time itself is Play. Its only 
 object is Pas-time. 
 
 Dada 
 Then what is Work? 
 
60 THE CYCLE OF SPRING 
 
 Chandra 
 Work is the dust raised by the pass- 
 ing of Time. 
 
 Dada 
 Leader, you must give us your an- 
 swers. 
 
 Leader 
 No. I never give answers. I lead 
 on from one question to another. That 
 is my leadership. 
 
 Dada 
 Everything else has its limits, but 
 your childishness is absolutely un- 
 bounded. 
 
 Do you know the reason .^^ It is be- 
 cause we are really nothing but chil- 
 dren. And everything else has its 
 limitations except the child. 
 
 Dada 
 Won't you ever attain Age? 
 No, we shall never attain Age. 
 
THE CYCLE OF SPRING 61 
 
 We shall die old, but never attain 
 Age. 
 
 Chandra 
 
 When we meet Age, we shall shave 
 his head, and put him on a donkey, and 
 send him across the river. 
 
 Oh, you can save yourself the trouble 
 of shaving his head, for Age is bald. 
 
 [They sing.] 
 Our hair shall never turn grey. 
 
 Never, 
 There is no blank in this world for us^ no 
 
 break in our road. 
 It may be an illusion that we follow. 
 But it shall never play us false, 
 Never. 
 
 [The Leader sings.] 
 
 Our hair shall never turn grey. 
 
 Never. 
 We will never doubt the world and shut 
 our eyes to ponder. 
 
 Never, 
 
62 THE CYCLE OF SPRING 
 
 We will not grope in the maze of our mind. 
 We flow with the flood of thing s^ from the 
 
 mountain to the sea. 
 We will never he lost in the desert sand. 
 Never, 
 
 We can tell, by his looks, that Dada 
 will some day go to that Old Man, to 
 receive his lessons. 
 
 Leader 
 Which Old Man? 
 
 The Old Man of the line of Adam. 
 He dwells in a cave, and never thinks 
 of dying. 
 
 Leader 
 
 Where did you learn about him.^ 
 
 Oh, everyone talks about him. And 
 it is in the books also. 
 
 Leader 
 What does he look like? 
 
 Some say he is white, like the skull 
 
THE CYCLE OF SPRING 63 
 
 of a dead man. And some say he is 
 dark, like the socket of a skeleton's eye. 
 
 But haven't you heard any news of 
 him, Leader .f^ 
 
 Leader 
 I don't believe in him at all. 
 
 Well, that goes entirely against cur- 
 rent opinion. That Old Man is more 
 existent than anything else. He lives 
 within the ribs of creation. 
 
 According to our Pundit, it is we who 
 have no existence. You can't be cer- 
 tain whether we are, or are not. 
 
 Chandra 
 
 We.f^ Oh, we are too brand new alto- 
 gether. We haven't yet got our cre- 
 dentials to prove that we exist. 
 
 Leader 
 Have you really gone and opened 
 communication with the Pundits .^^ 
 
64 THE CYCLE OF SPRING 
 
 Why? What harm is there in that. 
 Leader? 
 
 Leader 
 
 You will become pale, like the white 
 mist in autumn. Even the least colour 
 of blood will disappear from your mind. 
 I have a suggestion. T 
 
 What, Leader? What? 
 
 Leader 
 You were looking out for a play? 
 
 Yes, yes, we got quite frantic about 
 it. 
 
 We thought it over so vigorously, 
 that people had to run to the King's 
 court to lodge a complaint. 
 
 Leader 
 
 Well, I can suggest a play which will 
 be new. 
 
 What.?— What?— Tell us. ^ 
 
THE CYCLE OF SPRING 65 
 
 Leader 
 Go and capture the Old Man. 
 
 That is new, no doubt, but we very 
 much doubt if it's a play. 
 
 Leader 
 I am sure you won't be able to do it. 
 Not do it.? We shall. 
 
 Leader 
 No, never. 
 
 Well then, suppose we do capture 
 him, what will you give us.? 
 
 Leader 
 I shall accept you as my preceptor. 
 Preceptor! You want to make us 
 grey, and cold, and old, before our 
 time. 
 
 Leader 
 Then, what do you want me to do.? 
 
 If we capture him, then we shall take 
 away your leadership. 
 
66 THE CYCLE OF SPRING 
 
 Leader 
 That will be a great relief to me. 
 You have made all my bones out of 
 joint already. Very well, then it's all 
 settled .f^ 
 
 Yes, settled. We shall bring him to 
 you by the next full moon of Spring. 
 
 But what are we going to do with 
 him.f^ 
 
 Leader 
 You shall let him join in your Spring 
 Festival. 
 
 Oh, no, that will be outrageous. 
 Then the mango flowers will run to 
 seed at once. 
 
 And all the cuckoos will become owls. 
 
 And the bees will go about reciting 
 Sanskrit verses, making the air hum 
 with m's and n's. 
 
 Leader 
 And your skull will be so topheavy 
 
THE CYCLE OF SPRING 67 
 
 with prudence, that it will be difficult 
 for you to keep on your feet. 
 
 How awful ! 
 
 Leader 
 
 And you will have rheumatics in all 
 your joints. 
 
 How awful! 
 
 Leader 
 
 And you will become your own elder 
 brothers, pulling your own ears to set 
 yourselves right. 
 
 How awful! 
 
 Leader 
 And— 
 
 No more *'ands." We are ready to 
 surrender. 
 
 We will abandon our game of cap- 
 turing the Old Man. 
 
 We will put it off till the cold weather. 
 
68 THE CYCLE OF SPRING 
 
 In this Springtime, your company will 
 be enough for us. 
 
 Leader 
 Ah, I see ! You have already got the 
 chill of the Old Man in your bones. 
 
 Why.^ What are the symptoms.^ 
 
 Leader 
 You have no enthusiasm. You back 
 out at the very start. Why don't you 
 make a trial .^ 
 
 Very well. Agreed. Come on. 
 
 Let us go after the Old Man. We 
 will pluck him out, like a grey hair, 
 wherever we find him. 
 
 Leader 
 But the Old Man is an adept in the 
 business of plucking out. His best 
 weapon is the hoe. 
 
 You needn't try to frighten us like 
 that. When we are out for adventure. 
 
THE CYCLE OF SPRING 69 
 
 we must leave behind all fears, all quat- 
 rains, all Pundits, and all Scriptures. 
 
 [They sing,] 
 
 We are out on our way 
 And we fear not the Robber, the Old 
 Man. 
 Our path is straight, it is broad. 
 
 Our burden is light, for our pocket is 
 bare. 
 Who can rob us of our folly? 
 For us there is no rest, nor ease, nor 
 praise, nor success. 
 We dance in the measure of fortune's rise 
 and fall. 
 We play our game, or win or lose. 
 And we fear not the Robber, 
 
ACT II 
 
 SONG-PRELUDE 
 
 [Springes Heralds try to rob Winter of 
 his outfit of age.] 
 
 [Rear stage lighted up, disclosing Old 
 Winter teased by the boys and girls 
 representing Springes Heralds.] 
 
 Song of the Heralds of Spring 
 
 We seek our playmates, 
 
 Waking them up from all corners be- 
 fore it is morning. 
 We call them in bird songs. 
 
 Beckon them in nodding branches. 
 We spread our spell for them in the 
 
 splendour of clouds. 
 We laugh at solemn Death 
 Till he joins in our laughter. 
 70 
 
THE CYCLE OF SPRING 71 
 
 We tear open Time's purse. 
 
 Taking back his plunder from him. 
 
 You shall lose your heart to us, Winter, 
 It will gleam in the trembling leaves 
 And break into flowers. 
 
 Song of Winter 
 
 Leave me, let me go. 
 I sail for the bleak North, for the peace 
 of the frozen shore. 
 Your laughter is untimely, my friends. 
 You turn my farewell tunes into the wel- 
 come song of the Newcomer, 
 And all things draw me back again 
 into the dancing ring of their hearts. 
 
 Song of the Heralds of Spring 
 
 Lifers spies are we, lurking in ambush 
 everywhere. 
 We wait to rob you of your last savings 
 of withered hours to scatter them in 
 the wayward winds. 
 
72 THE CYCLE OF SPRING 
 
 We shall bind you in flower chains 
 where Spring keeps his captives, 
 
 For we know you carry your jewels of 
 youth hidden in your grey rags. 
 
Noon 
 
 [The rear stage is darkened. The band of 
 Youths enters on the main stage. No 
 actual change in the scenery is neces- 
 sary — this being left to the imagination 
 of the audience.] 
 
 Ferryman. Ferryman. Open your 
 door. 
 
 Ferryman 
 
 What do you want.^ 
 
 We want the Old Man. 
 
 Ferryman 
 
 Which old man.? 
 
 Not which old man. We want the 
 Old Man. 
 
 Ferryman 
 Who is he.? 
 
 The true and original Old Man. 
 73 
 
74 THE CYCLE OF SPRING 
 
 Ferryman 
 
 Oh. I understand. What do you 
 want him for? 
 
 For our Spring Festival. 
 
 Ferryman 
 
 For your Spring Festival.^ Are you 
 become mad.'^ 
 
 Not a sudden becoming. We have 
 been Hke this from the beginning. 
 
 And we shall go on like this to the 
 end. 
 
 [They sing.] 
 
 The Piper pipes in the centre, hidden 
 
 from sight. 
 And we become frantic, we dance. 
 The March wind, seized with frenzy. 
 Runs and reels, and sways with noisy 
 
 branches. 
 The sun and stars are drawn in the whirl 
 
 of rapture. 
 
THE CYCLE OF SPRING 75 
 
 Now, Ferryman, give us news of the 
 Old Man. 
 
 You ply your boat from one landing 
 stage to another. Surely you know 
 where, — 
 
 Ferryman 
 
 My business is limited only to the 
 path. But whose path it is, and what 
 it means, I have no occasion to enquire. 
 For my goal is the landing stage, not 
 the house. 
 
 Very well. Let us go, let us try all 
 the ways. 
 
 [They sing,] 
 
 The Piper pipes in the centre, hidden 
 from sight. 
 Ah, the turbulent tune, to whose time 
 the oceans dance. 
 
 And dance our heaving hearts. 
 Fling away all burdens and cares, brother. 
 
 Do not be doubtful of your path. 
 For the path wakes up of itself 
 
 Under the dancing steps of freedom. 
 
76 THE CYCLE OF SPRING 
 
 Ferryman 
 
 There comes the Watchman. Ask 
 him. I know about the way; but he 
 knows about the wayfarers. 
 
 Watchman 
 
 Who are you? 
 
 We are just what you see. That's 
 our only description. 
 
 Watchman 
 But what do you want.^^ 
 We want the Old Man. 
 
 Watchman 
 Which old man? 
 That eternal Old Man. 
 
 Watchman 
 
 How absurd ! While you are seeking 
 him, he is after you. 
 
 Why? 
 
THE CYCLE OF SPRING 77 
 
 Watchman 
 
 He is fond of warming his cold blood 
 with the wine of hot youth. 
 
 We'll give him a warm enough recep- 
 tion. All we want is to see him. Have 
 you seen him? 
 
 Watchman 
 
 My watch is at night. I see my peo- 
 ple, but don't know their features. 
 But, look here, everyone knows that 
 he is the great kidnapper; and you 
 want to kidnap him! It's midsummer 
 madness. 
 
 The secret is out. It doesn't take 
 long to discover that we are mad. 
 
 Watchman 
 
 I am the Watchman. The people I 
 see passing along the road are all very 
 much alike. Therefore, when I see 
 anything queer, it always strikes me. 
 
78 THE CYCLE OF SPRING 
 
 Just listen to him. All the respect- 
 able people of our neighbourhood say 
 just the same thing, — that we are queer. 
 
 Yes, we're queer. There's no mis- 
 take about that. 
 
 Watchman 
 But all this is utter childishness. 
 
 Do you hear that.^ It's exactly what 
 our Dada says. 
 
 We have been going on with our 
 childishness through un-remembered 
 ages. 
 
 And now we have become confirmed 
 children. 
 
 And we have a leader, who is a per- 
 fect veteran in childhood. He rushes 
 along so recklessly, that he drops off 
 his age at every step he runs. 
 
 Watchman 
 And who are you? 
 
THE CYCLE OF SPRING 79 
 
 We are butterflies, freed from the 
 cocoon of Age. 
 
 Watchman 
 [Aside.] Mad. Raving mad. 
 
 Ferryman 
 Then what will you all do now.^ 
 
 Chandra 
 We shall go, — 
 
 Watchman 
 Where? 
 
 Chandra 
 
 That we haven't decided. 
 
 Watchman 
 
 You have decided to go, but not 
 where to go.^ 
 
 Chandra 
 
 Yes, that will be settled as we go 
 along. 
 
80 THE CYCLE OF SPRING 
 
 Watchman 
 What does that mean? 
 
 Chandra 
 It means this song. 
 
 [They sing.] 
 
 We move and move without rest^ 
 We move while the wanderers' stars shine 
 in the sky and fade. 
 We play the tune of the road 
 While our limbs scatter away the laughter 
 of movement^ 
 And our many coloured mantle of youth 
 flutters about in the air. 
 
 Watchman 
 
 Is it your custom to answer questions 
 by songs? 
 
 Chandra 
 
 Yes, otherwise the answer becomes 
 too unintelHgible. 
 
THE CYCLE OF SPRING 81 
 
 Watchman 
 
 Then you think your songs intel- 
 Hgible? 
 
 Chandra 
 
 Yes, quite, because they contain 
 music. 
 
 [They sing,] 
 
 We move and move without rest. 
 
 World, the Rover, loves his comrades 
 of the road. 
 His call comes across the sky. 
 
 The seasons lead the way, strewing 
 the path with flowers. 
 
 Watchman 
 
 No ordinary being ever breaks out 
 singing, Hke this, in the middle of 
 talking. 
 
 Chandra 
 
 Again we are found out. We are no 
 ordinary beings. 
 
82 THE CYCLE OF SPRING 
 
 Watchman 
 Have you got no work to do? 
 
 Chandra 
 No, we are on a holiday. 
 
 Watchman 
 Why? 
 
 Chandra 
 
 Lest our time should all be wasted. 
 
 Watchman 
 I don't quite understand you. 
 
 Chandra 
 
 Then we shall be obliged to sing 
 again. 
 
 Watchman 
 
 No, no. There's no need to do that. 
 I don't hope to understand you any 
 better, even if you do sing. 
 
THE CYCLE OF SPRING 83 
 
 Chandra 
 
 Everybody has given up the hope of 
 understanding us. 
 
 Watchman 
 
 But how can things get on with you, 
 if you behave like this? 
 
 Chandra 
 
 Oh, there's no need for things to get 
 on with us, so long as we ourselves get 
 on. 
 
 Watchman 
 
 Mad ! Quite mad ! Raving mad ! 
 
 Chandra 
 Why, here comes our Dada. 
 Dada, what made you lag behind? 
 
 Chandra 
 
 Don't you know? We are free as the 
 wind, because we have no substance 
 
84 THE CYCLE OF SPRING 
 
 in us. But Dada is like the rain-cloud 
 of August. He must stop, every now 
 and then, to unburden himself. 
 
 Dada 
 Who are you.^ 
 
 Ferryman 
 T am the Ferryman. 
 
 Dada 
 And who are you.^^ 
 
 Watchman 
 I am the Watchman. 
 
 Dada 
 
 I am delighted to see you. I want 
 to read you something that I have 
 written. It contains nothing frivo- 
 lous, but only the most important 
 lessons. 
 
THE CYCLE OF SPRING 85 
 
 Ferryman 
 Very good. Let us have it then. 
 
 Watchman 
 
 Our master used to tell us, that there 
 are plenty of men to say good things, 
 but very few to listen. That requires 
 strength of mind. Now, go on. Sir, 
 go on. 
 
 Dada 
 
 I saw, in the street, one of the king's 
 officers dragging along a merchant. 
 The King had made up a false charge, in 
 order to get his money. This gave me 
 an inspiration. You must know, that 
 I never write a single line which is not 
 inspired by some actual fact. You can 
 put my verses to the test in the open 
 streets and markets, — 
 
 Ferryman 
 
 Please, Sir, do let us hear what you 
 have written. 
 
86 THE CYCLE OF SPRING 
 
 Dada 
 The sugar-cane filling itself with juice 
 Is chewed and sucked dry by all beggars. 
 foolish men, take your lesson from this; 
 Those trees are saved, which are fruitful. 
 
 You will understand that the sugar- 
 cane gets into trouble, simply because 
 it tries to keep its juice. But nobody 
 is so foolish as to kill the tree that 
 freely gives fruit. 
 
 Watchman 
 What splendid writing, Ferryman. 
 
 Ferryman 
 Yes, Watchman, it contains great 
 lessons for us. 
 
 Watchman 
 It gives me food for thought. If 
 only I had here our neighbour, the 
 Scribe! I should like to take this down. 
 Do send round to tell the people of 
 the place to assemble. 
 
THE CYCLE OF SPRING 87 
 
 Chandra 
 But, Ferryman, you promised to 
 come out with us. Yet, if once Dada 
 begins to quote his quatrains, there 
 will be, — 
 
 Ferryman 
 
 Go along with you. None of your 
 madness here. We are fortunate now 
 in having met our master. Let us 
 improve the occasion with good words. 
 We are all of us getting old. Who 
 knows when we shall die.^^ 
 
 All the more reason why you should 
 cultivate our company. 
 
 Chandra 
 You can always find another Dada. 
 But when once we are dead, God will 
 never repeat the blunder of another 
 absurdity like us again. 
 
 [Enter Oilman,] 
 Oilman 
 Ho ! Watchman. 
 
88 THE CYCLE OF SPRING 
 
 Watchman 
 Who is there? Is that the Oilman? 
 
 Oilman 
 
 The child I was bringing up was 
 kidnapped last night. 
 
 Watchman 
 By whom? 
 
 Oilman 
 By the Old Man. 
 
 Youths 
 
 [Together.] Old Man? You don't 
 mean it. Old Man? 
 
 Oilman 
 
 Yes, Sirs, the Old Man; what makes 
 you so glad? 
 
 Oh, that's a bad habit of ours. We 
 become glad for no reason whatever. 
 
THE CYCLE OF SPRING 89 
 
 Watchman 
 [Aside.] Mad! Raving mad! 
 
 Have you seen the Old Man? 
 
 Oilman 
 
 I think I saw him in the distance last 
 night. 
 
 First Youth 
 What did he look like? 
 
 Oilman 
 
 Black. More black than our brother 
 here, the Watchman. Black as night, 
 with two eyes on his breast shining 
 like two glow-worms. 
 
 That won't suit us. That would be 
 awkward for our Spring Festival. 
 
 Chandra 
 
 We shall have to change our date 
 from the full moon to the dark moon. 
 For the dark moon has no end of eyes 
 on her breast. 
 
90 THE CYCLE OF SPRING 
 
 Watchman 
 
 But I warn you, my friends, you are 
 not doing wisely. 
 
 No, we are not. 
 
 We are found out again. We never 
 do anything wisely. It is contrary to 
 our habit. 
 
 Watchman 
 Do you take this to be a joke? I 
 warn you, my friends, it is dangerous. 
 
 Dangerous .^^ That's the best joke 
 of all. 
 
 [They sing.] 
 
 We are neither too good, nor wise. 
 
 That is all the merit we have. 
 Our calumny spreads from land to land, 
 
 And danger dogs our steps. 
 We take great care to forget what is 
 taught us. 
 We say things different from the book. 
 Bringing upon us trouble, 
 And rebuke from the learned. 
 
/ 
 
 THE CYCLE OF SPRING 91 
 
 Watchman 
 
 Ah, Sir, you spoke about some 
 Leader. Where is he? He could have 
 kept you in order, if he were with you. 
 
 He never stays with us, lest he should 
 have to keep us in order. 
 
 He simply launches us on our way, 
 and then slips off. 
 
 Watchman 
 That's a poor idea of leadership. 
 
 - Chandra 
 
 He is never concerned about his 
 leadership. That is why we recognize 
 him as our Leader. 
 
 Watchman 
 Then he has got a very easy task. 
 
 Chandra 
 It is no easy task to lead men. But 
 it is easy enough to drive them. 
 
92 THE CYCLE OF SPRING 
 
 [They sing.] 
 
 We are not too good, nor wise. 
 
 That is all the merit we have. 
 In a luckless moment we were born. 
 When the star of wisdom was the 
 dimmest. 
 We can hope for no profit from our ad- 
 ventures. 
 
 We move on, because we must, 
 
 Dada, come on. Let us go. 
 
 Watchman 
 
 No, no, Sir. Don't you get yourself 
 into mischief in their company. 
 
 Ferryman 
 You read your verses. Sir, to us. 
 Our neighbours will be here soon. 
 They will be greatly profited. 
 
 Dada 
 
 No. I'm not going to move a step 
 from here. 
 
THE CYCLE OF SPRING 93 
 
 Then let us move. The men in the 
 street can't bear us. 
 
 That's because we rattle them too 
 much. 
 
 You hear the hum of human bees, 
 they smell the honey of Dada's quat- 
 rains. 
 
 Youths 
 [Together,] They come. They come. 
 
 [Enter Village folk.] 
 
 Villager 
 
 y Is it true that there is going to be a 
 ^ reading .f^ 
 
 Who are you.^ Are you going to 
 read? 
 
 No. We commit all kinds of atroci- 
 ties, but not that. This one merit will 
 bring us salvation. 
 
94 THE CYCLE OF SPRING 
 
 Villager 
 
 What do they say? They seem to be 
 talking in riddles. 
 
 Chandra 
 
 We only say things which we per- 
 fectly understand ourselves, and they 
 are riddles to you. Dada repeats to 
 you things which you understand per- 
 fectly and these sound to you the very 
 essence of wisdom. 
 
 [Boy enters.] 
 
 Boy 
 
 I couldn't catch him. 
 
 Whom.? 
 
 Boy 
 
 The Old Man, whom you are seek- 
 ing. 
 
 Have you seen him.^^ 
 
THE CYCLE OF SPRING 95 
 
 B(yy 
 
 Yes, I thought I saw him going by 
 in a car. 
 
 Where? In what direction? 
 
 Boy 
 
 I couldn't make out exactly. The 
 dust raised by his wheels is still whirl- 
 ing in the air. 
 
 Then let us go. 
 
 He has filled the sky with dead 
 leaves. 
 
 [They go out] 
 
 Watchman 
 
 They are mad ! Quite mad ! Raving 
 mad! 
 
ACT III 
 
 SONG-PRELUDE 
 
 [Winter is being unmasked, — his hidden 
 youth about to be disclosed,] 
 
 [The rear stage lighted up, disclosing 
 Winter and the Heralds of Spring,] 
 
 Song of the Heralds of Spring 
 
 How grave he looks, how laughably 
 old, 
 
 How solemnly quiet among death prepara- 
 tions! 
 
 Come, friends, help him to find himself 
 before he reaches home. 
 
 Change his pilgrim's robe into the dress 
 of the singing youth 
 
 Snatch away his bag of dead things 
 
 And confound his calculations. 
 
THE CYCLE OF SPRING 97 
 
 [Another group sings.] 
 
 The time comes when the world shall know 
 that you're not banished in your own 
 shadows; 
 Your heart shall burst in torrents 
 
 Out of the clasp of the ice; 
 And your North wind turn its face 
 
 Against the haunts of the flitting phan- 
 toms. 
 There sounds the magician's drum, 
 And the sun waits with laughter in his 
 glance 
 To see your grey turn into green. 
 
Evening 
 
 [The rear stage is darkened; the light on 
 the main stage dimmed to the greyness 
 of dark,} 
 
 Band of Youths 
 
 They all cry, "There, There," and 
 when we look for it, we find nothing 
 but dust and dry leaves. 
 
 I thought I had a glimpse of the flag, 
 on his car, through the cloud. 
 
 It is difficult to follow his track. Now 
 it seems East: now it seems West. 
 
 And so we are tired, chasing shadows 
 all day long. And the day has been lost. 
 
 I tell you the truth. Fear comes 
 more and more into my mind, as the 
 day passes. 
 
 We have made a mistake. The 
 morning light whispered in our ears, — 
 98 
 
THE CYCLE OF SPRING 99 
 
 "Bravo, march on" — ^And now, the 
 evening light is mocking us for that. 
 
 I am afraid we have been deceived. 
 I am beginning to feel greater respect 
 for Dada's quatrains than before. We 
 shall all be soon sitting down on the 
 ground composing quatrains. 
 
 And, then, the whole neighbourhood 
 will come, swarming round us. And 
 they will get such immense benefit 
 from our wisdom, that they will never 
 leave us. 
 
 And we shall settle down like a great 
 big boulder, cold and immovable. 
 
 And they will cling to us, as we sit 
 there, like a thick fog. 
 
 What would our Leader think of us, 
 I wonder, if he could hear us now.^ 
 
 __I am sure it is our Leader, who has 
 led us astray. He makes us toil for 
 nothing, while he himself remains idle. 
 
100 THE CYCLE OF SPRING 
 
 Let us go back and fight with him. 
 We will tell him, that we won't move 
 a step further, but sit with our legs 
 tucked under us. These legs are 
 wretched vagabonds. They are always 
 trudging the road. 
 
 We will keep our hands fast behind 
 our backs. 
 
 There is no mischief in the back; all 
 the trouble is in the front. 
 
 Of all our limbs, the back is the most 
 truthful. It says to us, — "Lie down." 
 
 When we are young, that braggart 
 breast is a great swell; but, in the end, 
 we can only rely on our back. 
 
 The little stream, that flows past our 
 village, comes to my mind. That 
 morning, we thought that it said to 
 us , — ' ' Forward ! Forward ! " But what 
 it really said was, — "False! False!" 
 The world is all false. 
 
THE CYCLE OF SPRING 101 
 
 Our Pundit used to tell us that. 
 
 We shall go straight to the Pundit, 
 when we get back. 
 
 We shall never stir one step outside 
 the limit of the Pundits' Scriptures. 
 
 What a mistake we made. We 
 thought that moving itself was some- 
 thing heroic. 
 
 But really not to move, — that is 
 heroic: because it is defying the whole 
 moving world. 
 
 Brave rebels that we are, we shall 
 not move. We shall have the audacity 
 to sit still, and never move an inch. 
 
 "Life and youth are fleeting," the 
 Scripture says. Let life and youth go 
 to the dogs, we shall not move. 
 
 "Our minds and wealth are fleeting," 
 adds the Scripture — "Give them up 
 and sit still," — say we. 
 
102 THE CYCLE OF SPRING 
 
 Let us go back to the point, from 
 which we started. 
 
 But that would be to move. 
 
 What then.?^ 
 
 There sit down, where we have come 
 to. 
 
 And let us imagine, that there we had 
 been, before we ever came there. 
 
 Yes, yes, that will keep our minds 
 still. If we know that we have come 
 from somewhere else, then the mind 
 longs for that somewhere else. 
 
 That land of somewhere else is a very 
 dangerous place. 
 
 There the ground moves, and also 
 the roads. But as for us, — 
 
 [They sing.] 
 We cling to our seats and never stir. 
 We allow our flowers to fade in peace. 
 And avoid the trouble of bearing 
 fruit. 
 
THE CYCLE OF SPRING 103 
 
 Let the starlights hlazen their eternal folly 
 
 We quench our flames. 
 Let the forest rustle and the ocean roar. 
 
 We sit mute. 
 Let the call of the flood-tide come from 
 the sea. 
 
 We remain stilL 
 
 Do you hear that laughter? 
 
 Yes, yes, it is laughter. 
 
 What a relief ! We have never heard 
 that sound for an age. 
 
 We had been choking, for want of the 
 breath of laughter. 
 
 This laughter comes to us like the 
 April rain. 
 
 Whose is it? 
 
 Cannot you guess? It is our Chan- 
 dra. 
 
 What a marvellous gift of laughter 
 he has ! It is like a waterfall. It dashes 
 all the black stones out of the path. 
 
104 THE CYCLE OF SPRING 
 
 It is like sunlight. It cuts the mist 
 to pieces with its sword. 
 
 Now all danger of quatrain fever is 
 over. Let us get up. 
 
 From this moment, there will be 
 nothing but work for us. As the Scrip- 
 ture says, — "Everything in this world 
 is fleeting; and he only lives, who does 
 his duty and achieves fame." 
 
 Why are you quoting that.f^ Are you 
 still suffering from the quatrain fever .^ 
 
 What do you mean by fame.^^ Does 
 the river take any heed of its foam.'^ 
 Fame is that foam on life's stream. 
 
 [Enter Chandra with a blind minstrel.] 
 
 Well, Chandra, what makes you so 
 glad? 
 
 Chandra 
 
 I have got the track of the Old Man. 
 
 From whom.? 
 
THE CYCLE OF SPRING 105 
 
 Chandra 
 From this old Minstrel. 
 He seems to be blind. 
 
 Chandra 
 Yes, that is why he has not got to 
 seek the road. 
 
 What do you say? Shall you be able 
 to lead us right .'^ 
 
 Minstrel 
 Yes. 
 
 But how? 
 
 Minstrel 
 Because I can hear the footsteps. 
 We also have ears, but, — 
 
 Minstrel 
 I hear with my whole being. 
 
 Chandra 
 They all started up with fear, when 
 I asked about the Old Man, Only this 
 
106 THE CYCLE OF SPRING 
 
 Minstrel seemed to have no fear. I 
 suppose because he cannot see, he is 
 not afraid. 
 
 Minstrel 
 
 Do you know why I have no fear? 
 When the sun of my hfe set, and I be- 
 came bHnd, the dark night revealed all 
 its lights, and, from that day forward, 
 I have been no more afraid of the 
 dark. 
 
 Then let us go. The evening star 
 is up. 
 
 Minstrel 
 
 Let me sing, and walk on as I sing, 
 and you follow me. I cannot find my 
 way, if I do not sing. 
 
 What do you mean.^ 
 
 Minstrel 
 My songs precede, I follow. 
 
THE CYCLE OF SPRING 107 
 
 [He sings,] 
 
 Gently, my friend, gently walk to your 
 silent chamber, 
 I know not the way, I have not the light, 
 Dark is my life and my world. 
 I have only the sound of your steps 
 To guide me in this wilderness. 
 
 Gently, my friend, gently walk along the 
 dark shore. 
 Let the hint of the way come in whisper. 
 Through the night, in the April breeze, 
 I have only the scent of your garland 
 To guide me in this wilderness. 
 
ACT IV 
 
 SONG-PRELUDE 
 
 [There enter a troupe of young things^ 
 and they introduce themselves in a 
 song as follows:] 
 
 The Song of Returning Youth 
 
 Again and again we say ''Good hye,'^ 
 
 To come hack again and again, 
 0, who are you? 
 I am the flower vakul. 
 And who are you? 
 I am the flower parul. 
 And who are these? 
 
 We are mango blossoms landed on the 
 shore of light. 
 We laugh and take leave when the time 
 beckons us. 
 We rush into the arms of the ever-return- 
 ing, 
 
 108 
 
THE CYCLE OF SPRING 109 
 
 But who are you? 
 
 I am the flower shimul. 
 
 And who are you? 
 
 I am the kamini bunchy 
 And who are these? 
 We are the jostling crowd of new leaves, 
 
 [Winter is revealed as Spring and answers 
 to the questions put by the chorus of 
 young things:] 
 
 The Song of Burdens-dropped 
 
 Do you own defeat at the hand of youth? 
 
 Yes, 
 Have you met at last the ageless Old, who 
 ever grows new? 
 Yes. 
 Have you come out of the walls that 
 crumble and bury those whom they 
 shelter? 
 Yes. 
 
 [Another group sings.] 
 
 Do you own defeat at the hands of life? 
 Yes. 
 
110 THE CYCLE OF SPRING 
 
 Have you passed through death to stand 
 at last face to face with the Death- 
 less? 
 Yes. 
 Have you dealt the blow to the demon 
 dust, that swallows your city Im- 
 mortal? 
 Yes, 
 
 [Spring's flowers surround him and sing,] 
 
 The Song of Fresh Beauty 
 
 We waited by the wayside counting mo- 
 ments. 
 Till you appeared in the April morn- 
 ing. 
 You come as a soldier-boy winning life 
 at death's gate, — 
 0, the wonder of it. 
 We listen amazed at the music of your 
 young voice. 
 Your mantle is blown in the wind 
 Like the fragrance of the Spring. 
 
THE CYCLE OF SPRING 111 
 
 The white spray of malati flowers in 
 your hair 
 Shines like star-clusters. 
 A fire hums through the veil of your 
 smile, — 
 0, the wonder of it 
 And who knows where your arrows are 
 hidden, which smite death? 
 
Night 
 
 [The rear stage is darkened; and the light 
 on the main stage dimmed to the heavy 
 purple blackness of mourning.] 
 
 [Enter the Band of Youths.] 
 
 Chandra has gone away again, leav- 
 ing us behind. 
 
 It is difficult to keep him still. 
 
 We get our rest by sitting down, but 
 he gets his by walking on. 
 
 He has gone across the river with the 
 blind minstrel, in whose depth of blind- 
 ness Chandra is seeking the invisible 
 light. 
 
 That is why our Leader calls him the 
 Diver. 
 
 Our life becomes utterly empty, when 
 Chandra is away. 
 
 112 
 
THE CYCLE OF SPRING 113 
 
 Do you feel as though something was 
 in the air? 
 
 The sky seems to be looking into our 
 face, like a friend bidding farewell. 
 
 This little stream of water is trickling 
 through the casuarina grove. It seems 
 like the tears of midnight. 
 
 We have never gazed upon the earth 
 before with such intentness. 
 
 When we run forward at full speed, 
 our eyes keep gazing in front of us, and 
 we see nothing on either side of us. 
 
 If things did not move on and van- 
 ish, we should see no beauty anywhere. 
 
 If youth had only the heat of move- 
 ment, it would get parched and with- 
 ered. But there is ever the hidden tear, 
 which keeps it fresh. 
 
 The cry of the world is not only I 
 have, but also I give. In the first dawn- 
 ing light of creation *'I have" was 
 
114 THE CYCLE OF SPRING 
 
 wedded to "I give." If this bond of 
 union were to snap, then everything 
 would go to ruin. 
 
 I don't know where that bUnd Min- 
 strel has landed us at last. 
 
 It seems as though these stars in the 
 sky above us are the gazing of countless 
 eyes we met in all forgotten ages. It 
 seems as if, through the flowers, there 
 came the whisper of those we have for- 
 gotten, saying Remember us. 
 
 Our hearts will break, if we do not 
 sing. 
 
 [They sing.] 
 
 Did you leave behind you your love, my 
 heart; 
 And miss peace through all your days? 
 And is the path you followed lost and 
 forgotten, 
 Making your return hopeless? 
 I go roaming listening to brooks' babble. 
 To the rustle of leaves. 
 
THE CYCLE OF SPRING 115 
 
 And it seems to me that I shall find the 
 way. 
 That reaches the land of lost love 
 Beyond the evening stars. 
 
 What a strange tune is this, that 
 comes out of the music of Spring. 
 
 It seems Hke the tune of yellow 
 leaves. 
 
 Spring has stored up its tears in 
 secret for us all this while. 
 
 It was afraid we should not under- 
 stand it, because we were so youthful. 
 
 It wanted to beguile us with smiles. 
 
 But we shall steep our hearts to- 
 night in the sadness of the other 
 shore. 
 
 Ah, the dear earth! The beautiful 
 earth! She wants all that we have, — 
 the touch of our hands, the song of our 
 hearts. 
 
116 THE CYCLE OF SPRING 
 
 She wants to draw out from us all 
 that is within, hidden even from our- 
 selves. 
 
 This is her sorrow, that she finds out 
 some things, only to know that she has 
 not found all. She loses, before she 
 attains. 
 
 Ah, the dear earth! We shall never 
 deceive you. 
 
 [They sing.] 
 
 I shall crown you with my garland, be- 
 fore I take leave. 
 You ever spoke to me in all my joys and 
 sorrows. 
 And now, at the end of the day, my own 
 
 heart will break in speech. 
 Words came to me, but not the tune. 
 And the song that I never sang to 
 you 
 Remains hidden behind my tears. 
 
 Brother, did you notice that some- 
 one seemed to have passed by? 
 
THE CYCLE OF SPRING 117 
 
 The only thing you feel is this pass- 
 ing by. 
 
 I felt the touch of the mantle of some 
 wayfarer. 
 
 We came out, to capture somebody, 
 but now we feel the longing to be cap- 
 tured ourselves. 
 
 Ah, here comes the Minstrel. Where 
 have you brought us.^ The breath of 
 the wayfaring world touches us here, — 
 the breath of the starry sky. 
 
 We came seeking a new form of play. 
 But now we have forgotten what play 
 it was. 
 
 We wanted to catch the Old Man. 
 
 And everybody said that he was 
 terrifying, a bodiless head, a gaping 
 mouth, a dragon eager to swallow the 
 moon of the youth of the world. But 
 now we are no longer afraid. The 
 flowers go, the leaves go, the waves in 
 the river go, and we shall also follow 
 
118 THE CYCLE OF SPRING 
 
 them. Ah, blind Minstrel, strike your 
 lute and sing to us. Who knows, what 
 is the hour of the night .^ 
 
 [The Minstrel sings,] 
 
 Let me give my all to him, before I am 
 asked. 
 Whom the world offers its all. 
 When I came to him for my gifts, I was 
 not afraid; 
 And I will not fear, when I come to him 
 to give up what I have. 
 The morning accepts his gold with 
 songs 
 The evening pays him back the debt of 
 gold and is glad. 
 The joy of the blooming flower comes to 
 
 fruit with shedding of its leaves. 
 Hasten, my heart, and spend yourself in 
 love. 
 Before the day is done. 
 
 Minstrel, why is Chandra still ab- 
 sent? 
 
THE CYCLE OF SPRING 119 
 
 Minstrel 
 Don't you know that he has gone? 
 Gone? — Where? 
 
 Minstrel 
 He said, I shall go and conquer him. 
 
 Whom? 
 
 Minstrel 
 
 The One who is feared by all. He 
 said, " Why else am I young? " 
 
 Ah, that was fine. — Dada goes to 
 read his quatrains to the village people, 
 and Chandra has disappeared, — for 
 what purpose nobody knows. 
 
 Minstrel 
 
 He said, "Men have always been 
 fighting for a cause. It is the shock of 
 that, which ruffles the breeze of this 
 Spring." 
 
 The shock? 
 
120 THE CYCLE OF SPRING 
 
 Minstrel 
 
 Yes, the message that man's fight is 
 not yet over. 
 
 Is this the message of Spring? 
 
 Minstrel 
 
 Yes. Those, who have been made 
 immortal by death, have sent their 
 message in these fresh leaves of Spring. 
 It said, — "We never doubted the way. 
 We never counted the cost: we rushed 
 out : we blossomed. If we had sat down 
 to debate, then where would be the 
 Spring.^" 
 
 Has that made Chandra mad.? 
 
 Minstrel 
 He said, — 
 
 [The Minstrel sings.] 
 
 The Spring flowers have woven my 
 wreath of victory. 
 The South wind breathes its breath of 
 fire in my blood. 
 
THE CYCLE OF SPRING 121 
 
 The voice of the house-corner wails in 
 vain from behind. 
 Death stands before me, offering its 
 crown. 
 The tempest of youth sweeps the sky-harp 
 with its fingers; 
 
 My heart dances in its wild 
 rhythm. 
 Gathering and storing are not for me, 
 
 I spend and scatter. 
 And prudence and comfort bid me adieu 
 in despair. 
 
 But where has he gone to? 
 
 Minstrel 
 
 He said, — ''I cannot keep waiting by 
 the wayside any longer. I must go and 
 meet him, and conquer him." 
 
 But which way did he take.^ 
 
 Minstrel 
 He has entered the cave. 
 
im THE CYCLE OF SPRING 
 
 How is that? It is so fearfully dark. 
 Did he, without making any enquiries — 
 
 Minstrel 
 
 Yes he went in to make enquiries 
 himself. 
 
 When will he come back? 
 
 I don't believe he will ever come 
 back. 
 
 But if Chandra leaves us, then life is 
 not worth living. 
 
 What shall we say to our Leader? 
 
 The Leader also will leave us. 
 
 Didn't he leave any message for us 
 before he disappeared? 
 
 Minstrel 
 
 He said, — "Wait for me. I shall 
 return." 
 
 Return? How are we to know it? 
 
THE CYCLE OF SPRING 123 
 
 Minstrel 
 
 He said, — "I will conquer, and then 
 come back again." 
 
 Then we shall wait for him all night. 
 
 But, Minstrel, where have we got to 
 wait for him.'^ 
 
 Minstrel 
 
 Before that cave, from whence the 
 stream of water comes flowing out. 
 
 Which way did he go to get there .^^ 
 
 The darkness there is like a dark 
 sword. 
 
 Minstrel 
 
 He followed the sound of the night- 
 bird's wings. 
 
 Why did you not go with him.^ 
 
 Minstrel 
 He left me behind, to give you hope. 
 
 When did he go.^ 
 
124 THE CYCLE OF SPRING 
 
 Minstrel 
 In the first hour of the watch. 
 
 Now the third hour has passed, I 
 think. The air is chilly. 
 
 I dreamt that three women, with 
 their hair hanging loose, — 
 
 Oh, leave off your dream-women. I 
 am sick of your dreams. 
 
 Everything appears darkly ominous. 
 I didn't notice before the hooting of 
 the owl. But now, — 
 
 Do you hear that dog whining on the 
 far bank of the river .^^ 
 
 It seems as though a witch were rid- 
 ing upon him and lashing him. 
 
 Surely, if it had been possible, Chan- 
 dra would have come back by now. 
 
 How I wish this night were over. 
 
 Do you hear the woman's cry? 
 
THE CYCLE OF SPRING 125 
 
 Oh, the women, the women. They 
 are ever crying and weeping. But they 
 cannot turn those back, who must go 
 forward. 
 
 It is getting unbearable to sit still 
 like this. Men imagine all sorts of 
 things, when they sit still. Let us go 
 also. As soon as we are started on our 
 way, fear will leave us. 
 
 But who will show us the way? 
 
 There is the blind Minstrel. 
 
 What do you say. Minstrel.'^ Can 
 you show us the way.^^ 
 
 Minstrel 
 Yes. 
 
 But we can hardly believe you. How 
 can you find out the path by simply 
 singing? 
 
 If Chandra never comes back, you 
 shall — 
 
126 THE CYCLE OF SPRING 
 
 ^ We never knew that we loved Chan- 
 dra so intensely. We made light of 
 him all these days. 
 
 When we are in the playing mood, 
 we become so intent on the play, that 
 we neglect the playmate. 
 
 But, if he onces comes back, we 
 shall never neglect him any more. 
 
 I am afraid that we have often given 
 him pain. 
 
 Yet his love rose above all that. We 
 never knew how beautiful he was, 
 when we could see him every day. 
 
 {They sing.] 
 
 When there was light in my world 
 
 You stood outside my eyes. 
 Now that there is none. 
 
 You come into my heart. 
 When there were dolls for me, I played; 
 
 You smiled and watched from the door. 
 
THE CYCLE OF SPRING 127 
 
 Now that the dolls have crumbled to dust. 
 
 You come and sit by me. 
 And I have only my heart for my music. 
 
 When my lute-strings have broken. 
 
 That Minstrel sits so still and silent. 
 I don't like it. 
 
 He looks ominous, — like the lowering 
 autumn cloud. 
 
 Let us dismiss him. 
 
 No, no. It gives us heart, when he 
 sits there. 
 
 Don't you see, that there is no sign 
 of fear in his face? 
 
 It seems as if some messages were 
 striking his forehead. His body ap- 
 pears to espy someone in the distance. 
 There seem to be eyes on the tips of 
 his fingers. 
 
 Simply by watching him, we can see 
 that someone is coming through the 
 dark. 
 
128 THE CYCLE OF SPRING 
 
 Look. He is standing up. He is 
 turning towards the East, and making 
 his obeisance. 
 
 Yet there is nothing to be seen, not 
 even a streak of light. 
 
 Why not ask him, what it is that he 
 sees? 
 
 No, don't disturb him. 
 
 Do you know, it seems to me, that 
 the morning has dawned in him. 
 
 As if the ferry boat of light had 
 reached the shore of his forehead. 
 
 His mind is still, like the morning 
 sky. 
 
 The storm of birds' songs will burst 
 out presently. 
 
 He is striking his lute. His heart is 
 singing. 
 
 Hush. He is singing. 
 
THE CYCLE OF SPRING 129 
 
 [The Minstrel sings,] 
 
 Victory to thee, victory for ever, 
 
 brave heart. 
 Victory to life, to joy, to love. 
 
 To eternal light. 
 The night shall wane, the darkness shall 
 vanish. 
 Have faith, brave heart. 
 Wake up from sleep, from languor of 
 despair. 
 Receive the light of new dawn with a 
 song. 
 
 [A ray of light hovers before the cavern.] 
 
 Ah. There he is. Chandra. Chan- 
 dra. 
 
 Hush. Don't make any noise. I 
 cannot see him distinctly. 
 
 Ah. It cannot be any other than 
 Chandra. 
 
 Oh, what joy! 
 
130 THE CYCLE OF SPRING 
 
 Chandra ! Come ! 
 
 Chandra! How could you leave us 
 for so long? 
 
 Have you been able to capture the 
 Old Man? 
 
 Chandra 
 Yes, I have. 
 
 But we don't see him. 
 
 Chandra 
 He is coming. 
 
 But what did you see in the cave? — 
 Tell us. 
 
 Chandra 
 
 No, I cannot tell you. 
 
 Why? 
 
 Chandra 
 
 If my mind were a voice, then I could 
 tell you. 
 
 But could you see him, whom you 
 captured? Was he the Old Man of the 
 World? 
 
THE CYCLE OF SPRING 131 
 
 The Old Man who would like to 
 drink up the sea of youth, in his in- 
 satiable thirst? 
 
 ^ Was it the One, who is like the dark 
 night, whose eyes are fixed on his breast, 
 whose feet are turned the wrong way 
 round, who walks backwards? 
 
 Was it the One, who wears the gar- 
 land of skulls, and lives in the burning- 
 ground of the dead? 
 
 Chandra 
 
 I do not know, I cannot say. But he 
 is coming. You shall see him. 
 
 Minstrel 
 
 Yes, I see him. 
 
 [The light strengthens and gradually 
 throughout the scene, grows to a culmi- 
 nating brilliance at the close.] 
 
 Where? 
 
 Minstrel 
 Here. 
 
132 THE CYCLE OF SPRING 
 
 He is coming out of the cave. — Some- 
 one is coming out of the cave. 
 
 How wonderful. 
 
 Chandra 
 Why, it is you! 
 Our Leader ! 
 Our Leader! 
 Our Leader! 
 Where is the Old Man? 
 
 Leader 
 He is nowhere. 
 Nowhere.^ 
 
 Leader 
 Yes, nowhere. 
 Then what is he? 
 
 Leader 
 He is a dream. 
 Then you are the real? 
 
THE CYCLE OF SPRING 133 
 
 Leader 
 Yes. 
 
 And we are the real? 
 
 Leader 
 
 Yes. 
 
 Those who saw you from behind, 
 imagined you in all kinds of shapes. 
 
 We didn't recognize you through the 
 dust. 
 
 You seemed old. 
 
 And then you came out of the cave, — 
 and now you look like a boy. 
 
 It seems just as if we had seen you 
 for the first time. 
 
 Chandra 
 
 You are first every time. You are 
 first over and over again. 
 
 Leader 
 Chandra! You must own your de- 
 
134 THE CYCLE OF SPRING 
 
 feat. You couldn't catch the Old 
 Man. 
 
 Chandra 
 
 Let our festival begin. The sun is up. 
 
 Minstrel, if you keep so still, you will 
 swoon away. Sing something. 
 
 {The Minstrel sings,] 
 I lose thee, to find thee back again and 
 again, 
 My beloved. 
 Thou leavest me, that I may receive thee 
 
 all the more, when thou returnest. 
 Thou canst vanish behind the moment's 
 screen 
 Only because thou art mine for ever- 
 more. 
 My beloved. 
 When I go in search of thee, my heart 
 trembles^ spreading ripples across 
 my love. 
 Thou smilest through thy disguise of utter 
 absence, and my tears sweeten thy 
 smile. 
 
THE CYCLE OF SPRING 135 
 
 Do you hear the hum? 
 
 Yes. 
 
 They are not bees, but the people 
 of the place. 
 
 Then Dada must be near at hand 
 with his quatrains. 
 
 Dada 
 Is this the Leader .^^ 
 Yes, Dada. 
 
 Dada 
 
 Oh, I am so glad you have come. 
 I must read my collection of quat- 
 rains. 
 
 No. No. Not the whole collection, 
 but only one. 
 
 Dada 
 Very well. One will do. 
 
136 THE CYCLE OF SPRING 
 
 The sun is at the gate of the East, his 
 drum of victory sounding in the sky. 
 
 The Night says I am blessed, my death 
 is bHss. 
 
 He receives his alms of gold, filling his 
 wallet, — and departs. 
 
 That is to say, — 
 
 No. We don't want your that is to 
 say. 
 
 Dada 
 It means, — 
 
 Whatever it means, we are deter- 
 mined not to know it. 
 
 Dada 
 What makes you so desperate .^^ 
 It is our festival day. 
 
 Dada 
 
 Ah. Is that so.f^ Then let me go to 
 all the neighbours, — 
 
 No, you mustn't go there. 
 
THE CYCLE OF SPRING 137 
 
 Dada 
 But is there any need for me here? 
 Yes. 
 
 Dada 
 Then my quatrains, — 
 
 Chandra 
 
 We shall colour your quatrains with 
 such a thick brush, that no one will 
 know whether they have any meaning 
 at all. 
 
 And then you will be without any 
 means. 
 
 The neighbourhood will desert you. 
 
 The Watchman will take you to be a 
 fool. 
 
 And the Pundit will take you to be a 
 blockhead. 
 
 And your own people will consider 
 you to be useless. 
 
138 THE CYCLE OF SPRING 
 
 And the outside people will consider 
 you queer. 
 
 Chandra 
 
 But we shall crown you, Dada, with 
 a crown of new leaves. 
 
 We shall put a garland of jasmine 
 round your neck. 
 
 And there will be no one else, except 
 ourselves, who will know your true 
 worth. 
 
 The Song of the Festival of 
 Spring 
 
 [In which all the persons of the drama, 
 not excepting Sruti-bhushan, unite 
 on the main stage in the dance of 
 Spring.] 
 
 Come and rejoice. 
 
 For April is awake. 
 Fling yourselves into the flood of being ^ 
 
 Bursting the bondage of the past. 
 
THE CYCLE OF SPRING 139 
 
 April is awake. 
 Life's shoreless sea 
 
 Is heaving in the sun before you. 
 All the losses are lost. 
 
 And death is drowned in its waves. 
 Plunge into the deep without fear. 
 
 With the gladness of April in your 
 heart. 
 
 Printed in the United States of America 
 
'T^HE following pages contain advertisements of 
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THE WORKS OF SIR RABINDRANATH TAGORE 
 
 Personality 
 
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 "Meditation," "My School," "The Second Birth" and "The World 
 of PersonaUty." 
 
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 peculiarly Indian in character. In his plays there is little striving 
 after ordinary stage effects, no bid for a curtain, no holding up of 
 the moment of suspense, in order to force a sensation with which we 
 are so familiar on our American stage. He attains a naturalness of 
 style, a simplicity of mode, a fluidity of movement, which is con- 
 genially influenced by the musical affinity of his themes and the 
 leisurely drama of the open air and the courtyard. 
 
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 "NationaHsm in Japan," "Nationalism in India." 
 
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THE WORKS OF SIR RABINDRANATH TAGORE 
 
 Chitra: A Play in One Act 
 
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 womanhood and its claims." — Pall Mall Gazette. 
 
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 always characteristic of Rabindranath Tagore." — Cleveland 
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 child poems has the bloom of all young life upon it faithfully 
 transcribed by genius." — Metropolitan. 
 
 The Gardener 
 
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THE WORKS OF SIR RABINDRANATH TAGORE 
 
 Stray Birds 
 
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 Frontispiece in color and decorations by Willy Pogany. 
 
 Here is the kernel of the wisdom and insight of the great 
 Hindu seer in the form of short extracts. These sayings are 
 largely taken from his other works, and are the essence of his 
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 decorations by Willy Pogany are beautiful in themselves and en- 
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 Fruit Gathering 
 
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 The Hungry Stones and Other Stories 
 
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 without gloominess, characterize this volume of stories of the 
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THE WORKS OF SIR RABINDRANATH TAGORE 
 
 Gitanjali : Song Offerings 
 
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 The King of the Dark Chamber 
 
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 The Post Office 
 
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THE WORKS OF SIR RABINDRANATH TAGORE 
 
 THE NEW BOLPUR EDITION OF 
 **The Standard Edition of Tagore's Works" 
 
 Each volume in the Bolpur Edition, cloth, $i.^o ; leather, $2.00 
 
 This beautiful new edition, named after Tagore's famous school at Bol- 
 pur, India, is a fitting celebration of his recent visit to America. There are 
 ten volumes in the Bolpur Edition, representing Tagore's previously pub- 
 lished poems, plays and essays, and his two new books just issued, " Fruit 
 Gathering," and " The Hungry Stones, and Other Stories." 
 
 The paper, printing and general appearance of the volumes are unusual, 
 carrying out the intention of the publishers to make these books the stand- 
 ard editions of this distinguished poet's works. 
 
 A special design has been made for the covers, the end papers and title 
 pages are in colors, and each volume contains a photogravure frontispiece, 
 one of these from a portrait of Tagore taken during his recent visit to Japan. 
 
 SIR RABINDRANATH TAGORE'S WORKS 
 
 (^Complete in the Bolpur Edition) 
 
 FRUIT GATHERING. (Just published.) A sequel to the famous 
 
 Gitanjali. 
 THE HUNGRY STONES, AND OTHER STORIES. (Just 
 
 published.) 
 CHITRA: A Play in One Act. 
 THE CRESCENT MOON : Child Poems. 
 THE GARDENER: Love Poems. 
 GITANJALI : Religious Poems. 
 
 THE KING OF THE DARK CHAMBER. A Play. 
 SONGS OF KABIR. 
 SADHANA : The Realization of Life. 
 THE POST OFFICE: A Play. 
 
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 Publishers 64-66 Fifth Avenue New York 
 
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