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I will deck thee with trophies, garlands of my defeat. It is never in my power to escape unconquered.
I surely know my pride will go to the wall, my life will burst its bonds in exceeding pain, and my empty heart will sob out in music like a hollow reed, and the stone will melt in tears.
I surely know the hundred petals of a lotus will not remain closed for ever and the secret recess of its honey will be bared.
From the blue sky an eye shall gaze upon me and summon me in silence. Nothing will be left for me, nothing whatever, and utter death shall I receive at thy feet.
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| Gitanjali Poem no. 98 |
Summary
The lyric sings the truth of unconquerable power of Death and defeat of man in His feet. The poet sings his defeat. He knows that he will have to lay his pride, his ego at the feet of his victor. His soul after being escaped from the bondage of body will weep out all its suffering and agony at the feet of his Lord and Master. At last the lotus of God's heart will open out like a flower, and he will drink from it the nectar of divine love and merey. At last, God will bless him with His love and mercy. He is sure that the day will come when God will look upon him from the blue zenith with love and call him from His seat in the high heavens above. He will cheerfully welcome Death and go to His abode gladly. The poet welcomes the Death, for it is only in Death that the Human is reunited with the super human.
Critical Analysis
There will be no resistance on the part of the poet, when death overpowers his soul. The lotus will not remain closed for ever and it will Soon open the recess of its honey. The poet says he will receive utter death at his feet. This death is in fact is a sort of completeness, a fulfillment, a self transcendence. The self-centred life will become God centred. Before His vastness and splendour man's individuality shrinks and crumbles into dust. The all dwelling love invades, submerges and overwhelms individual consciousness. The whole individual - body, mind and soul is given up to the God. There is sexual imagery in 'pride', 'exceeding-pain', 'sob-out', 'hollow' etc.
"I surely know my pride will go to the wall, my life will burst its bonds in exceeding pain, and my empty heart will sob out in music like a hollow reed, and the stone will melt into tears".
The poet knows that pride and ego are the barriers between man and the God. For self surrender one has to shed his pride as he says in one poem: "Pride can never approach to were thou walkest" and this is the avarice ego in man that makes the immortal man mortal. So he speaks with an erotic imagery where he imagines himself to be a bride who is very shy and is powerless to prevent the bridegroom from achieving consummation with her. She will thus be defeated but she will herself crown her lover with the garland of her defeat. The beloved knows that her pride will ultimately have to yield. She will have to bear great pain but this pain will ultimately give her a life free from all bonds which restrain it. A music will be emitted by her heart which was empty till now. But now it will reverberate like a hollow reed. The stony reserve of the beloved will melt and flow out in the form of tears. This experience will at once be painful and rewarding.
Thus the union of soul with God which is a religions, pure and mystical experience is expressed in an erotic imagery of union of two physical bodies.
Annotations
Deck: decorate. Trophies : tokens of victory. Go to the wall: face defeat. Empty heart....melt in tears: the imagery seems to be that of sexual conquest. Recess hiding place. Bared: open. Summon: order. Utter: complete.