Every morning this dog, very attached to me,

Quietly keeps sitting near my seat

Till touching its head

I recognize its company.

This recognition gives it so much joy

Pure delight ripples through its entire body.

Among all dumb creatures

It is the only living being

That has seen the whole man

Beyond what is good or bad in him

It has seen

For his love it can sacrifice its life

It can love him too for the sake of love alone

For it is he who shows the way

To the vast world pulsating with life.

When I see its deep devotion

The offer of its whole being

I fail to understand

By its sheer instinct

What truth it has discovered in man.

By its silent anxious piteous looks

It cannot communicate what it understands

But it has succeeded in conveying to me

Among the whole creation

Transcreation of poem 14 from the collection Arogya by Rabindranath Tagore. During the closing years of his life every morning at Santiniketan the poet used to take his breakfast sitting on the verandah. At that time a stray dog used to sit very patiently at his feet. The breakfast consisted of a few slices of bread and a cup of tea. This dog shared it with the poet – but the bread had got to be buttered, otherwise it wouldn’t touch it. They – the poet and the dog – became great friends. Occasionally when it absented itself from this habitual meeting the poet made his attendants seek it out.