"What hast thou to give?": Tagore turns a gift into a question (2026)

Rabindranath Tagore's English Gitanjali (Song Offerings) appeared in 1913. Tagore made these prose poems from Bengali himself, revising, omitting, and selecting material as he did so. 1

Song L begins with a beggar who sees a king's golden chariot and assumes that fortune has arrived. The poem then asks a harder question: what can the person waiting to receive bring to the exchange?

The passage

Rabindranath Tagore, Gitanjali (Song Offerings) (1913), Song L. The poem is quoted from the public-domain English collection translated by Tagore. 1

I had gone a-begging from door to door in the village path, when thy golden chariot appeared in the distance like a gorgeous dream and I wondered who was this King of all kings!
My hopes rose high and methought my evil days were at an end, and I stood waiting for alms to be given unasked and for wealth scattered on all sides in the dust.
The chariot stopped where I stood. Thy glance fell on me and thou camest down with a smile. I felt that the luck of my life had come at last. Then of a sudden thou didst hold out thy right hand and say "What hast thou to give to me?"
Ah, what a kingly jest was it to open thy palm to a beggar to beg! I was confused and stood undecided, and then from my wallet I slowly took out the least little grain of corn and gave it to thee.
But how great my surprise when at the day's end I emptied my bag on the floor to find a least little grain of gold among the poor heap. I bitterly wept and wished that I had had the heart to give thee my all.

Gloss

A-begging: going from door to door to ask for alms. The phrase places the speaker in a routine of need before the golden chariot appears.
Methought: "it seemed to me." The old form places the hope inside the speaker's own mind, before any promise is made.
Kingly jest: a startling joke or reversal made possible by a king's power. The king's open hand imitates the beggar's request for alms, then turns that request back on the beggar.

Close read

The poem's device is a reversal built out of an imagined exchange. The opening gives the beggar the role of receiver: he waits for "alms" and for wealth "scattered" in the dust. Tagore raises the expectation step by step. A golden chariot approaches, the king's glance falls on the speaker, and the king comes down smiling. Each action looks like the beginning of a gift. Then the king holds out his own hand and asks, "What hast thou to give to me?" The direct question changes the scene's grammar. The beggar had expected to be the object of generosity; he becomes the person addressed and required to answer.

Tagore makes the return tangible through a small verbal echo. The speaker offers "the least little grain of corn." At the day's end, the emptied bag contains "a least little grain of gold." The repeated phrase keeps the second grain the same size on the page, while the changed noun alters its value. That precision matters. The speaker's regret names the withheld "all" and makes the loss particular. The poem turns a fantasy of sudden rescue into an inventory of what the speaker was willing to release.

Why it still matters

Song L gives generosity a difficult shape. The beggar's first hope is easy to recognize: a powerful stranger arrives, sees the need, and gives without being asked. Tagore pauses that wish at the outstretched hand. The question makes room for attention, time, money, forgiveness, or a small act whose value becomes clear later. The poem leaves the scale of the gift open, then makes the speaker feel the cost of keeping the larger share.

Reflection

When you find yourself waiting for help, what changes in the situation when you ask what you are prepared to give as well?

References

1
Standard Ebooks, *Gitanjali*, complete textstandardebooks.org