Rabindranath Tagore - The Banyan Tree lyrics

O you shaggy-headed banyan tree standing on the bank of the pond, have you forgotten the little chile, like the birds that have nested in your branches and left you? Do you not remember how he sat at the window and wondered at the tangle of your roots and plunged underground? The women would come to fill their jars in the pond, and your huge black shadow would wriggle on the water like sleep struggling to wake up. Sunlight danced on the ripples like restless tiny shuttles weaving golden tapestry. Two ducks swam by the weedy margin above their shadows, and the child would sit still and think. He longed to be the wind and blow through your resting branches, to be your shadow and lengthen with the day on the water, to be a bird and perch on your topmost twig, and to float like those ducks among the weeds and shadows. TITLE: The poem is going to be about a tree, maybe a poem about nature. PARAPHRASE: A speaker is asking the tree if he remembers a child that used to rest on his branches but has now left. He then asks if the tree remembers the women coming near to fill up their water jugs, the sunlight dancing on the water, and the animals playing as the child would sit and think. The child wanted to play on the branches of the tree, and be a part of the nature and wildlife of the area. ATTITUDE/TONE: the tone is pretty soulful, solemn, and ponderous on the quiet state of nature. SHIFTS: There is a shift between "the child would sit still and think" and "he longed to be..." Everything before this point was describing the scenic life around the banyan tree, but after "he longed to be..." the poem goes into detail about how the child wants to become the epitome of the nature, be the "wind and blow through the branches" the "bird and perch on the twigs" and a duck to "float among the weeds and shadows." TITLE (2nd look): The Banyan Tree is now a symbol of memories of the child that once played on it. It is a safe haven to the creatures of nature, yet all of the creatures who were indebted to it have now left it, leaving the tree in a state of quiet solitude. The speaker is asking the tree if he remembers that he was once full of life and love. THEME: Appreciate nature, for it is a place where you can think quietly about the facts of life as well as draw inspiration for your own behavior.