The night is dark
Boundless is the earth
Numerous people pass
Along numerous ways
To various directions
In their journeys in darkness
These travelers don’t know
They are treading what paths
Nor whom they want to meet.
There seems to be one wish in their hearts –
In a happy moment they will get
The supreme happiness of their lives.
Many they touch
They enjoy sweet fragrance
And hear many songs
All these fill them with joy.
Then in a sudden light by chance
Whomever we see very close
We call him and say –
‘Blessed is my life
In all my wanderings
It is you whom I have searched’.
In the darkness unnoticed
Others pass by us.
Translation of the sonnet Prem from the collection Chaitali (The Summer Harvest) by Rabindranath Tagore. The original in Bengali script may be viewed at
