He Came and Sat by My Side
by Rabindra Nath Tagore
(Text & Summary)
In this poem no. 26 of Gitanjali, Tagore
expresses his sorrow that he was unable to meet God even when God was as near to
him as possible. God has come to him but he is lost in the pursuit of worldly
matters, and fails to see Him. The poet has lost the opportunity of meeting God
due to his own mistakes and his own inattentiveness.
He Came And Sat By My Side
He
came and sat by my side but I woke not. What a cursed sleep it was, O miserable
me!
He
came when the night was still; he had his harp in his hands, and my dreams
became resonant with its melodies.
Alas,
why are my nights all thus lost? Ah, why do I ever miss his sight whose breath
touches my sleep?
In this
poem, Tagore takes the theme of the beloved waiting for her lover. The poet
mourns having gone to sleep and thus missed meeting God. Tagore, in the voice
of the beloved, says, that God came and sat by his side as he slept but he did
not wake up. He curses himself and his sleep for it meant a lost opportunity
and he wails for being miserable.
God
came when the night was very still. He had harp in His hands and as He played
it, the sweet melody of the harp mingled with the poet's dreams but he didn't
wake. The poet lost his opportunity every night and thus his nights were
useless. The poet questions, why he always missed seeing God when he was so
near that His breath touched the poet as he slept.
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