«On the nature of love»

The night is black and the forest has no end;
a million people thread it in a million ways.
We have trysts to keep in the darkness,
but where or with whom-
of that we are unaware.
But we have this faith-
that a lifetime’s bliss will appear any minute,
with a smile upon its lips.

Scents, touches, sounds, snatches of songs brush us,
pass us, give us delightful shocks.
Then peradventure there’s a flash of lightning:
whomever I see that instant I fall in love with.
I call that person and cry:
‘This life is blest! For your sake such miles have I traversed!’
All those others who come close and moved off in the darkness
- I don’t know if they exist or not.

© Rabindranath Tagore
Translated by Ketaki Kushari Dyson