# XLVI explained — Gitanjali

> Chapter companion for Gitanjali by Rabindranath Tagore.

## What happens

The poet feels the divine presence drawing near, sensing a time of completion and a tremulous joy that stirs his life.

## Themes in this chapter

### Divine Love and Devotion

The poet's intimate sense of the divine drawing near and the joy of that presence.

### The Pain of Separation and Longing

The poet's awareness of the divine coming from a distant time, hinting at prior separation.

## Character check-ins

### The Poet

The speaker who senses the divine approach and feels a stirring of joy and completion.

### The Divine

The ever-coming presence whose messenger calls secretly within the poet's heart.

## Key lines

> I know not from what distant time thou art ever coming nearer to meet me.

I don't know from how far back in time you have been constantly approaching to meet me.

_Expresses the eternal and ongoing approach of the divine._

> It is as if the time were come to wind up my work, and I feel in the air a faint smell of thy sweet presence.

It feels like the moment has arrived to finish my tasks, and I sense a subtle fragrance of your sweet presence in the air.

_Suggests a culmination and an imminent meeting with the divine._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/gitanjali_se/chapters/xlvi
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/gitanjali_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/gitanjali_se/chapters