In song 19, Rabindranath continues with the idea of God as a beloved and the poet as a lover.
The idea of the woman as the archetypal lover comes from myriad poetic traditions. When the beloved does not respond, the lover does not get disheartened. In fact, she persists in her love and endures the silence with patience. Her patience is akin to the star-studded sky that awaits the sun’s rise. Similarly, a devotee waits for her deity with composure. The lover is confident of darkness lifting one day and God’s voice pouring down ‘in golden streams.’ Rabindranath underlines the connection between the divine and nature. The lover is certain that one day, her beloved’s voice will reach out to her through songs of nature and the blossoming flowers. It would reverberate in her life — ‘forest groves’.
If thou speakest not I will fill my heart with thy silence and endure it. I will keep still and wait like the night with starry vigil and its head bent low with patience.
The morning will surely come, the darkness will vanish, and thy voice pour down in
golden streams breaking through the sky.
Then thy words will take wing in songs from every one of my birds’ nests, and thy
melodies will break forth in flowers in all my forest groves.
Geetanjali is a collection of sublime devotional poetry that glorifies the divine energy that pervades through this universe. Cultivating devotion is the most beautiful way to lead a meaningful and rich life. How do you identify the deity you connect to and then perform daily rituals that deepen your bond with them? The answer is the free and incredible Vedic Sadhana app, which makes the ancient rituals and practices followed by the sages of India available for you.