By All Means They Try to Hold Me Secure
by
Rabindranath Tagore
(Text & Summary)
In this poem (32nd in Gitanjali), Tagore
talks about the unrestrictive nature of God's spiritual love and compares it with
the possessive love of human beings. The love that men and women show to one
another is a selfish kind of love. On the other hand, God allows full freedom
and is never possessive.
By All Means They Try to Hold Me Secure
By
all means they try to hold me secure who love me in this world. But it is
otherwise with thy love which is greater than theirs, and thou keepest me free.
Lest
I forget them they never venture to leave me alone. But day passes by after day
and thou art not seen.
If I
call not thee in my prayers, if I keep not thee in my heart, thy love for me
still waits for my love.
In this
poem, Tagore compares the possessive love of human and the pure, true love of
God. He says that the people, who love him, try to hold him in their power. But
God's love is greater, He loves the poet more yet He leaves him free and
doesn't bound him.
The
poet says that the earthly love tries to bind him more and more because they
fear that he shall forget them but as far as God is concerned, days and days
pass and He can't be seen. The poet further says, that God's love is such that
even if he doesn't call to God in his prayers, or keep the thoughts or image of
God in his heart, God always loves him.
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