Rabindranath Tagore

The Gardener 20: Do Not Tell Him My Name

The Gardener 20: Do Not Tell Him My Name - meaning Summary

Absence That Haunts

The poem sketches a quiet scene of concealed longing. The speaker asks a friend to give a flower from her hair to a man who repeatedly arrives and leaves, and pleads that her identity remain hidden. His silent sadness mirrors and deepens her own. The request and the repeated departures emphasize unspoken feeling, distance, and the ache of loving someone who neither stays nor reveals his heart.

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Day after day he comes and goes away. Go, and give him a flower from my hair, my friend. If he asks who was it that sent it, I entreat you do not tell him my name -- for he only comes and goes away. He sits on the dust under the tree. Spread there a seat with flowers and leaves, my friend. His eyes are sad, and they bring sadness to my heart. He does not speak what he has in mind; He only comes and goes away.

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