On the Shady Side

I lived on the shady side of the road and watched my neighbours’
gardens across the way reveling in the sunshine.

I felt I was poor, and from door to door went with my hunger.

The more they gave me from their careless abundance
the more I became aware of my beggar’s bowl.

Till one morning I awoke from my sleep at the sudden opening of my door,
and you came and asked for alms.

In despair I broke the lid of my chest open and
was startled into finding my own wealth.

Rabindranath Tagore was a prolific playwright, novelist, and poet, winner of the 1913 Nobel Prize for Literature (1861-1941).