When the heart is hard and parched
When the heart is hard and parched, come upon me with a shower of mercy.
When grace is lost from life, come with a burst of song.
When tumultuous work raises its din on all sides, shutting me out from beyond, come to me, God of silence, with Your peace and rest.
When my beggarly heart sits crouched, shut up in a corner, break open the door, my God.
When desire blinds the mind with delusion and dust, O Holy One, come with Your light and Your thunder.
The Heart of God: Prayers of Rabindranath Tagore, ed. Herbert Vetter (Boston: Tuttle Publishing, 1997).
First Asian to win Nobel Prize for literature (1913), Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) is a national poet of India, an educator, lyricist, advocate of Indian liberation from British rule.