He Whom I Enclose
by
Rabindra Nath Tagore
(Text & Summary)
In the poem Tagore talks about the
imprisonment of his soul in favour of worldly power and pride. The human body
and all such physical and material things are like a deep dungeon where the
soul is locked and imprisoned.
He Whom I Enclose with My Name
He whom
I enclose with my name is weeping in this dungeon. I am ever busy building this
wall all around; and as this wall goes up into the sky day by day, I lose sight
of my true being in its dark shadow.
I
take pride in this great wall, and I plaster it with dust and sand lest a least
hole should be left in this name; and for all the care I take I lose sight of
my true being.
This
is the 29th poem of Tagore’s Gitanjali. In the poem, ‘He’ is the soul, ‘Name’ is the
physical body and worldly name and fame and ‘Wall’ is the material possessions.
In
the poem, Tagore talks about his soul and its imprisonment within his body.
This soul is his true nature but in this imprisoning of the soul, he comes to
forget his true nature. The poet says, that his soul is trapped inside the body
that is known by his name. This soul is crying in the deep dungeon of his
physical body. The poet is busy in building the wall higher, and therefore he is
losing sight of his true nature. The poet takes extreme care that not a hole appears
in this wall. But as much as he takes care of this wall, he loses sight of his
true self.
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