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Languor is upon your heart and the slumber is still on your eyes.
Has not the word come to you that the flower is reigning in splendour among thorns? Wake, oh awaken! Let not the time pass in vain!
At the end of the stony path, in the country of virgin solitude my friend is sitting all alone. Deceive him not. Wake, oh awaken!
What if the sky pants and trembles with the heat of the midday sun - what if the burning sand spreads its mantle of thirst -
Is there no joy in the deep of your heart? At every footfall of yours, will not the harp of the road break out in sweet music of pain?
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| Gitanjali Poem no. 55 |
Summary
The main idea behind these lines in this lyric is the joy of union with the divine is incredible. Even though the way to divine bliss is hard but it is sweet. The poet-beloved is feeling lazy and sleepy while his divine lover is sitting alone at the end of stony path. A friend of beloved asks him to meet his lover who is waiting there for him like a flower growing in an environment of thorns. He must not delay even if the sky is hot and the sand is burning.
The friend convinces him that the way to spiritual bliss is no matter tough but the destination is glorious and joyful. He says as the poet will go out to meet thie divine lover, the very road will break out into sweet music. Such sweet music as can break only out of a suffering heat.
Critical Analysis
Tagore is an expert in describing the psychology of the various aspects of the experience of love. To the lovers the whole universe is encompassed within their love. For lovers the union is far more ecstatic and joyful than the hard, sad, long and burning path of union.
Annotations
Languor: laziness. Slumber: sleep. Splendour: beauty. Virgin solitude: silence. Harp: musical instrument. Mantle: outer cloth.