Palm Tree

written by


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Palm-tree: single-legged giant,
  topping other trees,
  peering at the firmament -
It longs  to pierce the black cloud-ceiling
  and fly away, away,
  if only it had wings.

The tree  seems to express its wish
  in the tossing of its head:
  its fronds heave and swish -
It thinks, Maybe my leaves are feathers,
  and nothing stops me now
  from rising on their flutter.

All day  the fronds the windblown tree
  soar and flap and shudder
  as though it thinks it can fly,
As though  it wanders in the skies,
  travelling who knows where,
  wheeling past the stars -

And then  as soon as the wind dies down,
  the fronds subside, subside:
  the mind of the tree returns.
To earth,  recalls that earth is its mother:
  and then it likes once more
  its earthly corner. 

© Rabindranath Tagore