Silent Steps by Rabindranath Tagore

 Silent Steps by Rabindranath Tagore

Have you not heard his silent steps?

He comes, comes, ever comes.

Every moment and every age,

Every day and every night he comes, comes, ever comes.

Many a song have I sung in many a mood of mind,

But all their notes have always proclaimed,

'He comes, comes, ever comes.'

In the fragrant days of sunny April through the forest path he comes,

Comes, ever comes.

In the rainy gloom of July nights on the thundering chariot of clouds

He comes, comes, ever comes.

In sorrow after sorrow it is his steps that press upon my heart,

And it is the golden touch of his feet that makes my joy to shine.

INTRODUCTION -

'Silent Steps' is one of the most famous works of Gurudev, Rabindranath Tagore. It was published in his collection, Gitanjali in 1910. This poem is the 45th poem in the collection, therefore is also known as Song 45. The poem mainly describes God as omnipresent and omnipotent. He is always present with His people, helping them though being invisible.

POET -

Rabindranath Tagore (7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali poet, writer, and philosopher. He is also known as The Bard of Bengal and Gurudev. He was awarded Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913. Also, he was the first Non- European to be awarded it. He is most famous for his collection, Gitanjali.

SUMMARY -

Tagore says that he has a feeling that God is coming our way. We need to pay attention to His arrival. He feels God's coming in every moment, age, day or night. But there is no sound of His footsteps; hence it is challenging to notice His appearance. The poet further says that he has sung many songs in God's memory honouring Him, but every time the poet sings, he feels that He is coming close. During the sunny days in April, when there is a lot of fragrance in the air, you can feel God coming through the forest path. In July, God arrives on the clouds, His chariots during the rainy season and make thundering noise. No season or time affects Him, and He will always be near you.

When the poet is sad, as many problems make their way to him, God's footsteps make his heart happy. It is the golden touch of God's hands that make him happy and joyful. God is ageless and deathless. He is unbound from any restrictions. He makes us realize about His continual appearance through our feelings and different changes. Just as continual breath or arrival and departure of breath make us realize our life similarly the rotation of earthly natural particle indicates us about God's continual appearance on earth.

THEME -

• God is omnipresent - All things in nature reveal His presence. We can also feel His divine touch silently in our everyday life. It is the primary instinct of Tagore for the appearance of God, which he repeats in many lines in the poem" Silent Steps" with the line "God comes, comes and ever comes". 

END - 

God is invisible, but His appearance is feelable and acceptable. In our foolishness, we sometimes forget Him. Still, in any condition, He always keeps our care, and for this particular reason He comes, comes, and ever comes to us without breaking, or without caring any natural disturbance. Although the poem "Silent Steps" is very short in length, its inner sense is immense and profound.