The Soaring Hope of Possibilities: Rabindranath Tagore’s Poem, Paperboats
This week in Daak:
1. The Soaring Hope of Possibilities: Rabindranath Tagore’s Poem, Paperboats
2. Surround Yourself with Art
3. Daak Recommends
1. The Soaring Hope of Possibilities: Rabindranath Tagore’s Poem, Paperboats
As we cross the threshold of adulthood, we are tasked with confronting and accepting reality — the dreaded “this is how it is,” which gradually drowns out the soaring hope of possibilities that children naturally see in their infinite wisdom. To them, the world is a magical place where whimsy and serendipity abounds. In his poem “Paperboats,” Tagore captures the essence of this unguarded optimism.
Written from the perspective of a child who is signing and floating paper boats down a river, the poem is a call to the dreamer, the wishful thinker and the hopeless optimist buried deep within our rationality. There could be a playmate in the sky guiding our boat on with a gentle, benign wind, and another friend in a foreign land waiting to receive our boat full of treasures. All we need is a little bit of trust!
Paperboats 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.
2. Surround Yourself with Art
Enliven your space with this stunning art print by Japanese wanderer and artist, Hiroshi Yoshida.
3. Daak Recommends
Check out this digital copy of Tagore’s book of children’s poems, Crescent Moon.
Read another Daak on a Tagore poem which celebrates the simple logic of children’s love.