Early in The Day It was Whispered
by
Rabindranath Tagore
(Poem & Summary)
This
poem is a mystical poem about the voyage to eternity. The poet knows early on
from life that he shall be going on a voyage with God. Here, in his quest, his
pilgrimage, the human soil is the pilgrim and the boat the medium which God
shall guide. The sea is the symbol of eternity and the soul has to cross in
order to attain union with God. Tagore believes, that in order to attain
salvation one needs to leave the human body behind and the soul has to go on
and cross eternity.
Early in the day it was whispered
Early
in the day it was whispered
that
we should sail in a boat, only thou and I,
and
never a soul in the world
would
know of this our pilgrimage
to
no country and to no end.
In
that shoreless ocean,
at
thy silently listening smile
my
songs would swell in melodies,
free
as waves, free from all bondage of words.
Is
the time not come yet?
Are
there works still to do?
Lo,
the evening has come down upon the shore
and
in the fading light
the
seabirds come flying to their nests.
Who
knows when the chains will be off,
and
the boat, like the last glimmer of sunset,
vanish
into the night?
Summary
In
this song, Tagore talks about the voyage to the eternal world which he and God
shall make in a boat. In his childhood, the poet has been told, that he and God
would travel together in a boat and none would know about their journey to the
eternity. In the voyage, the poet would sing melodies and when God silently
acknowledged it with a smile, then his songs would swell and reach on height of
music beyond the mere words and content of a song. Then the poet questions
whether this time had come or not and if there are still other works to do? Then
he says, that it is evening and all else over going home, and even the seabirds
are flying to their nest. Finally, the poet wonders when the chains of worldly
life will fall off and his boat shall merge into eternity.
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