In an evocative speech, Sheen quoted lines from Tagore’s poem — ‘Where The Mind Is Without Fear’. In an evocative speech, Sheen quoted lines from Tagore’s poem — ‘Where The Mind Is Without Fear’.

Famous Hollywood star Martin Sheen recited a poem of Rabindranath Tagore during his speech at a recent climate change protest in the US and Indians around the world can’t stop gushing about it. During the Fire Drill Friday protest event in Washington, Sheen, in an evocative speech, quoted lines from Tagore’s poem — ‘Where The Mind Is Without Fear’. Now, the video of his speech is going viral.

The weekly climate action protest event organised by actor Jane Fonda has seen a galaxy of stars grace the occasion. On Friday, Sheen and Golden Globe-winning actor Joaquin Phoenix attended the protest to raise their voice against inaction by government and industries to counter climate change.

“Clearly, the world will be saved by women. Thank God they outnumber us men,” Sheen began his speech amid a round of applause from the crowd. “We are called to find something in our lives worth fighting for. Something that unites the will of the spirit with the work of the flesh. Something that can help us lift up this nation and all its people where the heart is without fear and the head is held high, where knowledge is free,” he said.

Watch the video here:

Listen to this incredible speech from OUR President, Martin Sheen #FireDrillFriday 🔥 pic.twitter.com/Z7HxNkovR8 — Fire Drill Fridays (@FireDrillFriday) January 10, 2020

The actors participating in the protest marched till Capitol Hill and were briefly detained by the police. Seeing Sheen, who essayed the role of President Josiah Bartlet from critically acclaimed NBC drama ‘The West Wing’, reciting the Indian poet’s famous lines, people on social media sites couldn’t stop talking about it. While most were moved by his rendition, calling it ‘riveting’ and ‘electrifying’, others opined that Tagore was ‘universal and forever’, and is relevant beyond boundaries.

Sample these:

Tagore is meant for all nations, all generations. Long live Tagore. What a man, Martin Sheen. https://t.co/DiLj6eHWph — Farrukh K. Pitafi (@FarrukhKPitafi) January 11, 2020

This happened yesterday. Martin Sheen reciting Rabindranath Tagore is a thing of beauty. pic.twitter.com/8yw69YcD9Q — Voice Of Ram (@VORdotcom) January 11, 2020

President Bartlett recites Gurudev.

Goosebumps… https://t.co/9cd9lEqjZP — vir sanghvi (@virsanghvi) January 11, 2020

‘Where the mind is without fear,

And the head is held high.’ https://images.indianexpress.com/2020/08/1x1.png Martin Sheen reciting Tagore is something to behold!pic.twitter.com/TPgZdOep1r — Amit Varma (@amitvarma) January 11, 2020

Martin Sheen reciting Tagore will leave you shaken and stirred https://t.co/y5WoSdaKGk — Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah) January 11, 2020

I love that be quoted Tagore just now. Few in the West even know who he is. That gave me chills! — Graham (@fanofroger1) January 11, 2020

Martin Sheen reciting Tagore – goosebump stuff. Inspiring, electrifying… https://t.co/klus4GZnvM — Somnath Mukherjee (@somnath1978) January 11, 2020

Awesome moment when Martin Sheen used one of the greatest poem of Ravindranath Tagore ‘ Where the mind is without fear ‘ in his speech. 👏👏🙏 https://t.co/KaE6xYrfGM — Sanjit (@jsigns7) January 11, 2020

What a different yet powerful rendering of Tagore’s poem that we all know by heart. Thank you Martin Sheen! https://t.co/ov03kiNKAE — g.arunima (@anuarunima1) January 11, 2020

Martin Sheen reciting “Let my country awake” by Rabindranath Tagore. What a moment !

Absolutely in a west wing way..!

This is time for we need to jump off the cliff… https://t.co/qATCxlydf8 — Jalshayin Bhachech (@JBhachech007) January 11, 2020

Riveting. Martin Sheen quoting Tagore https://t.co/jHvBh8Ul16 — Rohan Bhammar (@RohanBhammar) January 11, 2020

Oh Gosh!! This is amazing. https://t.co/a1U4Mcar3D — Shubhajit Sen (@kittusen) January 11, 2020

Tagore is forever. Martin Sheen reciting ‘Where the mind is without fear’. https://t.co/wAOmqlBXAd — Uday Singh Rana (@UdaySRana) January 11, 2020

The ‘Where The Mind Is Without Fear’ is part of Gitanjali, the complied works of Tagore that won Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913. Written in 1910 before Indian independence, it was originally penned down in Bengali and later translated in English by Tagore himself.

However, this is not the first time Sheen was heard reciting Tagore’s famous lines. Earlier in 2016, he recited the poem as part of the #VoteYourFuture campaign ahead of the presidential elections that year.

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