Fruit-Gathering

First published in 1916, this collection of poems by Rabindranath Tagore is made up largely of prose poems. Tagore translated them into English himself after receiving the 1913 Nobel Prize in Literature, and the pieces move through affection, the natural world, faith, and dreams.

Tagore writes through a range of speakers. One poem follows a lovesick young man, another a poor, unlettered man who holds a letter he cannot read. Elsewhere the speaker longs to become a poet of the night, one who sings of a stillness that cannot be measured. Holy men and kings also appear, alongside celebrations of beauty and vivid images of the natural world, such as the changing seasons and the rivers.