Poem: I AM RESTLESS

by: Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941)

I AM restless. I am athirst for far-away things.
My soul goes out in a longing to touch the skirt of the dim distance.
O Great Beyond, O the keen call of thy flute!
I forget, I ever forget, that I have no wings to fly, that I am bound in this spot evermore.

I am eager and wakeful, I am a stranger in a strange land.
Thy breath comes to me whispering an impossible hope.
Thy tongue is known to my heart as its very own.
O Far-to-seek, O the keen call of thy flute!
I forget, I ever forget, that I know not the way, that I have not the winged horse.

I am listless, I am a wanderer in my heart.
In the sunny haze of the languid hours, what vast vision of thine takes shape in the blue of the sky!
O Farthest end, O the keen call of thy flute!
I forget, I ever forget, that the gates are shut everywhere in the house where I dwell alone!

Rabindranath Tagore

(born May 7, 1861, Calcutta, India — died Aug. 7, 1941, Calcutta) Bengali poet, writer, composer, and painter. The son of Debendranath Tagore, he published several books of poetry, including Manasi, in his 20s. His later religious poetry was introduced to the West in Gitanjali (1912). Through international travel and lecturing, he introduced aspects of Indian culture to the West and vice versa. He spoke ardently in favour of Indian independence; as a protest against the Massacre of Amritsar, he repudiated the knighthood he had received in 1915. He founded an experimental school in Bengal where he sought to blend Eastern and Western philosophies; it became Vishva-Bharati University (1921). He was awarded the 1913 Nobel Prize for Literature.

For more information on Rabindranath Tagore, visit Britannica.com.

Words

Confronting such a profusion, one risks taking short-term variations or insignificant fluctuations for long-term tendencies and losing any sense of pattern.

...because of their purely quantitative territorial element, various national liberations did engender decolonization...

Pope sparks abortion controversy in Brazil

· Excommunication mooted for lawmakers
· One million Catholics expected at open air mass

Tom Phillips in Rio de Janeiro
Thursday May 10, 2007
The Guardian

Pope Benedict XVI touched down in the world's biggest Roman Catholic country yesterday hoping to help reverse a 20-year exodus to Brazil's reborn evangelical churches, but immediately created controversy when he appeared to suggest that legislators who support laws allowing abortions should be excommunicated.

During a press conference on his flight to Sao Paulo, the Pope for the first time dealt in depth with a topic that has come up in many countries, including the United States, Mexico, and Italy.

He was asked whether he supported Mexican church leaders threatening to excommunicate leftist parliamentarians who last month voted to legalise abortion in Mexico City.

"Yes, this excommunication was not an arbitrary one but is allowed by canon (church) law which says that the killing of an innocent child is incompatible with receiving communion, which is receiving the body of Christ," he said.

The Vatican's chief spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi, later tried to downplay the comments, saying the Pope was not himself ordering excommunications.

"Since excommunication hasn't been declared by the Mexican bishops, the Pope has no intention himself of declaring it," he said."Legislative action in favour of abortion is incompatible with participation in the Eucharist. Politicians exclude themselves from communion."

His comments are likely to raise the stakes in the debate over whether politicians can support abortion or gay marriage and still consider themselves proper Catholics, although during the flight the Pope had described the evangelical advance as "our biggest worry".

In 1980 nearly 90% of Brazilians said they were Catholic. Today the figure has dropped to around 73%, while the evangelical community has risen to nearly 20% of the population. "We have to become more dynamic," the Pope told reporters on the plane.

During the five-day visit to Sao Paulo he will be protected by a security detail reportedly twice as big as the one deployed during the recent visit of George Bush.

Tomorrow a million people are expected to attend an open-air mass in Sao Paulo to watch the canonisation of Brazil's first native saint, Antonio Galvao. Today the Pope will meet the Brazilian president, Luiz Inacio "Lula" da Silva, and address 35,000 young Catholics in the Pacaembu football stadium.

Pope fever has overcome Brazil's media in the lead-up to the visit and tens of thousands of Catholics have descended on Sao Paulo hoping to snatch a glimpse of the Pope's bulletproof vehicle. The Vatican, however, is all too aware of the challenges it faces in Latin America. In 2005 the Brazilian cardinal Claudio Hummes conceded that the church had been "haemorrhaging" followers. "How much longer will Latin America be a Catholic continent?" he asked.

Critics blame the current crisis on the Vatican's failure to engage with the poor and its hardline stances on abortion and condoms.

Despite boasting the world's largest Catholic congregation, of around 136 million followers, Brazil has just 18,000 Catholic priests. Evangelical churches, in contrast, have representatives in virtually every corner of the country. But some Catholic churches have started installing air-conditioning and padded pews, and Christian discos are appearing in cities.

British Queen begins US trip in Virginia

The Queen is starting her first trip to the US for 16 years with a visit to Virginia to meet survivors of the worst college shooting in US history.

The 81-year-old monarch will be joined by the Duke of Edinburgh for the six-day East Coast tour.

The official state visit will end with two days in Washington DC with President George Bush.

The Queen's last stay in the US followed the first Gulf war when President Bush's father was in power.

Apology call

The Queen's programme is aimed at forging bonds between Britain and the US and focusing on their shared future.

On Thursday the Queen will pay tribute to the victims of the Virginia Tech shooting and is expected to meet survivors and bereaved families.

Cadets from the college will line the steps up to the state capitol, where the Queen will deliver her keynote speech to the Virginia assembly.

The Queen will visit Jamestown on Friday to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the US's first permanent English settlement.

There have already been calls for her to apologise for the introduction of slavery and slaughter of American Indians.

Teabag

She will also fulfil a lifelong dream by attending the Kentucky Derby at the Churchill Downs racetrack at the weekend.

The finale will be two days in Washington DC, where she will be entertained by President Bush, visit a Nasa space centre and meet some of GI brides who left Britain for a new life across the Atlantic during the Second World War.

The box-office hit film The Queen, for which Dame Helen Mirren won an Oscar, is likely to have increased interest in the visit.

It will be the fourth state visit to the US by the Queen and the Duke, following tours in 1957, 1976 for the US Bicentennial and 1991. They also visited Ronald Reagan in 1983.

Mr Bush will undoubtedly be trying to avoid the embarrassment Mr Reagan faced once with the Prince of Wales.

It was revealed on Wednesday that Mr Reagan wrote in his diaries how the Prince was, "horror of horrors", served a cup of tea with the teabag left in it.

The Queen is arriving by plane and her carbon footprint will be calculated and offset for the first time for a state visit.

Story from BBC NEWS
Published: 2007/05/03 06:07:27 GMT