Endless Time
Rabindranath Tagore 1861 (Kolkata) – 1941 (Kolkata)
Time is endless in thy hands, my lord.
There is none to count thy minutes.
Days and nights pass and ages bloom and fade like flowers.
Thou knowest how to wait.
Thy centuries follow each other perfecting a small wild flower.
We have no time to lose,
and having no time we must scramble for a chance.
We are too poor to be late.
And thus it is that time goes by
while I give it to every querulous man who claims it,
and thine altar is empty of all offerings to the last.
At the end of the day I hasten in fear lest thy gate be shut;
but I find that yet there is time.
About this poem
"Endless Time" is a poem by Rabindranath Tagore, a renowned Indian poet, writer, and philosopher who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913. The poem explores the theme of the cyclical nature of time and the eternal nature of existence. The speaker reflects on the passage of time and the inevitability of change, acknowledging that everything in the world is in a state of constant flux. However, the speaker also suggests that there is something enduring and unchanging about the human spirit, which remains constant even as the world around us changes. Through the use of vivid imagery and lyrical language, Tagore creates a powerful and evocative meditation on the nature of time and human existence. more »
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified by acronimous on February 19, 2023
- 41 sec read
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Quick analysis:
| Scheme | XX XA X XXA XXX XX |
|---|---|
| Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
| Characters | 592 |
| Words | 137 |
| Stanzas | 6 |
| Stanza Lengths | 2, 2, 1, 3, 3, 2 |
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"Endless Time" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 23 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/29433/endless-time>.
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