In the morning I cast my net into the sea...by Rabindranath Tagore

In the morning I cast my net into the sea.
I dragged up from the dark abyss things 
of strange aspect and strange beauty

some shone like a smile, some glistened like
tears, and some were flushed like the cheeks of a bride.

When with the day's burden I went home,
my love was sitting in the garden
idly tearing the leaves of a flower.

I hesitated for a moment,
and then placed at her feet all that I
had dragged up, and stood silent.

She glanced at them and said,
"What strange things are these?
I know not of what use they are!"

I bowed my head in shame and thought,
"I have not fought for these,
I did not buy them in the market;
they are not fit gifts for her."

Then the whole night through
I flung them one by one into the street.

In the morning travelers came;
they picked them up
and carried them into far countries.

~ Rabindranath Tagore
From The Gardener