Light, Oh Where is The Light? by Rabindra Nath Tagore (Text & Summary)

 

Light, Oh Where is The Light?

by Rabindra Nath Tagore

(Text & Summary) 

In this 27^th poem of Gitanjali, Tagore is the beloved and God, the lover. The beloved is disturbed and lost in the intense darkness. The poet knows God is there, he can hear God's music calling him and wishes for God to light his path.

 

Light, Oh Where is The Light?

Light, oh where is the light? Kindle it with the burning fire of desire!

There is the lamp but never a flicker of a flame, - is such thy fate, my heart! Ah, death were better by far for thee!

Misery knocks at thy door, and her message is that thy lord is wakeful, and he calls thee to thy love-tryst through the darkness of night.

The sky is overcast with clouds and the rain is ceaseless. I know not what this is that stirs in me, - I know not its meaning.

A moment's flash of lightning drags down a deeper gloom on my sight, and my heart gropes for the path to where the music of the night calls me.

Light, oh where is the light! Kindle it with the burning fire of desire! It thunders and the wind rushes screaming through the void. The night is black as a black stone. Let not the hours pass by in the dark. Kindle the lamp of love with thy life.

 

Tagore conveys his anxiety and worry for being in darkness and appeals for light of God. He questions, where light is? He says, that a light can be lighted by an intense desire. According to him, the lamp is there but not the light in that lamp. He wails and cries if such would be his fate, that he would never be lighted by God's vision. From such a fate, death would be a far better option. The poet says, when misery comes, a knock at his door informs him, that God knows all and calls out to the poet to come and meet Him.

The sky is dark with clouds and it is raining ceaselessly. Lightning flashes for a moment but after it dies away. The poet feels his way in the dark towards the place where the music of the night is playing and calling him. The poet wishes to kindle his lamp with the light of desire. There is thunder and wind rushing and screaming, the night is thick and dark as a black stone. The poet prays God that he should not allow him to waste away his years in idleness and in the darkness and he should light the lamp with his own life that is only after death that he will see God.