Come as you are; do not loiter over <br />your toilet. <br /> If your braided hair has loosened if <br />the parting of your hair be not straight, <br />if the ribbons of your bodice be not <br />fastened, do not mind. <br /> Come as you are; do not loiter over <br />your toilet. <br /> Come, with quick steps over the <br />grass. <br /> If the raddle come from your feet <br />because of the dew, of the rings of bells <br />upon your feet slacken, if pearls drop <br />out of your chain, do not mind. <br /> Come, with quick steps over the <br />grass. <br /> Do you see the clouds wrapping the <br />sky? <br /> Flocks of cranes fly up from the <br />further river-bank and fitful gusts of <br />wind rush over the heath. <br /> The anxious cattle run to their stalls <br />in the village. <br /> Do you see the clouds wrapping the <br />sky? <br /> In vain you light your toilet lamp <br />--it flickers and goes out in the <br />wind. <br /> Who can know that your eyelids <br />have not been touched with lamp- <br />black? For your eyes are darker <br />than rain-clouds. <br /> In vain you light your toilet lamp-- <br />it goes out. <br /> Come as you are; do not loiter over <br />your toilet. <br /> If the wreath is not woven, who <br />cares; if the wrist-chain had not been <br />linked, let it be. <br /> The sky is overcast with clouds--it <br />is late. <br /> Come as you are; do not loiter over <br />your toilet.<br /><br />Rabindranath Tagore<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-gardener-xi-come-as-you-are/
