A poem by Rabindranath Tagore

[softwareNerd]

Rabindranath Tagore was the person who wrote India's national anthem. He was an influential intellectual at the time of India's independence from Britain. Here's one of his poems.

Note 1: I present this not so much as great poetry, but as being of historical interest. A lot of people think of India as a mystical land. A head-count would affirm that. However, a survey of people in power would reveal a significantly different picture. While this particular poem invokes God, that's really "in passing".

Note 2: The word "free" in the second line is "free" as in "unshackled".

Where the Mind is Without Fear

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;

Where knowledge is free;

Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;

Where words come out of the depths of truth;

Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;

Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;

Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action --

Into that heaven of freedom, by Father, let my country awake.

[bobsponge]

I rather like his quote, "The winds of grace are always blowing, but it is you who must raise your sails."