Shabd at Morris Park NYPL (Session 2)

Shabd at Morris Park NYPL (Session 2)

For the second session of "Shabd" at the Morris Park New York Public Library in the Bronx, we discussed and put to movement two poems - "I Hear America Singing" by Walt Whitman, and "The Same Stream of Life" by Tagore. 

"I Hear America Singing"
- by Walt Whitman

​I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear,
Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe and strong,
The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam,
The mason singing his as he makes ready for work, or leaves off work,
The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat, the deckhand singing on the steamboat deck,
The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench, the hatter singing as he stands,
The wood-cutter’s song, the ploughboy’s on his way in the morning, or at noon intermission or at sundown,
The delicious singing of the mother, or of the young wife at work, or of the girl sewing or washing,
Each singing what belongs to him or her and to none else,
The day what belongs to the day—at night the party of young fellows, robust, friendly,
Singing with open mouths their strong melodious songs.

"The Same Stream of Life"
​- by Rabindranath Tagore

The same stream of life that runs
through my veins night and day runs
through the world and dances in rhythmic measures.
It is the same life that shoots in joy
through the dust of the earth in numberless blades of grass and
breaks into tumultuous waves of leaves and flowers.
It is the same life that is rocked in the ocean-cradle
of birth and of death, in ebb and in flow.
I feel my limbs are made glorious by the touch of this world
of life. And my pride is from the life-throb of ages
dancing in my blood this moment.

Participants also made a group poem:
My song
describes
feelings
is of joy 
tells my story 
shows my heartache 
is full of hope! 

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On the Walt Whitman poem, one participant said 
"A poem of a forgotten age. Would anybody write something simple today? What fun to have these simple emotions. Just joy or sorrow, not the new-age complex things, without over-analysis."