The Solitary Reaper

Whether one believes in the Bhagwat Gita or listens to Tagore's "Akela Chalo Re", the message is the same everywhere. We all come alone into this world and will all go alone. In our journey through life we shall meet a lot of people, some of whom will become an inseparable part of our journey, and others who will fade away into oblivion in some time. We will do a lot of deeds, many of which we will think redefines us and our lives. Yet, at the end of the day each of us is alone. That is the fundamental truth and there is no more.

One of the best expressions of this view is William Wordsworth's "The Solitary Reaper". I read it in Class 9 in school in the collection of poems called Panorama. Still tanks as one of my favorite pieces. You may have other interpretations of the same, but I am sure will agree with me that this is indeed a most beautiful piece.

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THE SOLITARY REAPER

Behold her, single in the field,
Yon solitary Highland Lass!
Reaping and singing by herself;
Stop here, or gently pass!
Alone she cuts and binds the grain,
And sings a melancholy strain;
O listen! for the Vale profound
Is overflowing with the sound.

No Nightingale did ever chaunt
More welcome notes to weary bands
Of travellers in some shady haunt,
Among Arabian sands:
A voice so shrilling ne'er was heard
In spring-time from the Cuckoo-bird,
Breaking the silence of the seas
Among the farthest Hebrides.

Will no one tell me what she sings?--
Perhaps the plaintive numbers flow
For old, unhappy, far-off things,
And battles long ago:
Or is it some more humble lay,
Familiar matter of to-day?
Some natural sorrow, loss, or pain,
That has been, and may be again?

Whate'er the theme, the Maiden sang
As if her song could have no ending;
I saw her singing at her work,
And o'er the sickle bending;--
I listen'd, motionless and still;
And, as I mounted up the hill,
The music in my heart I bore,
Long after it was heard no more.