Early in The Day It was Whispered by Rabindranath Tagore (Poem & Summary)

 

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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