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What if you have loved this person before — in other lifetimes, other ages, other forms — and simply recognise them again? That is the question at the heart of this extraordinary poem by the Nobel laureate Tagore, written in Bengal in 1890 and still impossible to read without choking up.
Not a love poem about passion. A love poem about souls. Tagore speaks of love that renews and renews — older than any single lifetime, gathered from all the poets and lovers who came before, and heaped, finally, at the feet of one person.
We share poems in good faith and with full credit. A Letter to the Poets →
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Eternal Love
I may have loved you in many forms, many times,
life after life, age after age, forever.
Now my soul spins these words to adorn you
with a garland of my lovesong
And you accept this gift, joyously — and wear it in your many forms,
life after life, in age after age, forever.
When I hear about the agonies of love lost,
I turn to look back into the past,
And from this night, you emerge,
a bright-star in the darkness of time:
An image of what I remembered forever.
You and I have floated here on this stream of love,
alongside millions of lovers,
sharing the same sweetness of our first meeting,
the same distressful tears of our farewell —
Our love so old is but a timeless love,
it renews and renews forever.
Today all of it is here, in its full glory —
heaped at your feet, it has found its end in you.
The memories of all the loves of the past become one
with this love of ours,
with the songs of every poet,
now and forever.
Rabindranath Tagore · Bengal, 1890
We share poems in good faith and with full credit. A Letter to the Poets →
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