"His detached stare/Pays not the slightest attention to the marks in my note-book./If the letters were insects he would look:/He would not then regard a poet as utterly useless./I smile at the peacock’s solemn indifference,/Observe my writing through his eyes."
It is ultimately revealed that the title of this poem refers to the way a peacock considers a poet sitting leisurely on his terrace on a spring day writing in his notebook. The arrival of a peacock into this Edenic setting established in the opening stanzas seems almost surprising; one might have been expecting a serpent instead. But it is with the arrival of the bird and the titular look in its eye that the theme really sits. The apathetic gaze of the peacock transforms the subject of the verse into a meditation upon the importance—or lack thereof—that poetry has in the world. The peacock represents those things in nature that keep going on as poets come and go. It is certainly not a theme for a poet—for any writer—to consider. But the peacock and the poet's looking at himself through the bird's eyes certainly gives this theme a more unique spin.
"The singer alone does not make a song, there has to be someone who hears:/One man opens his throat to sing, the other sings in his mind./Only when waves fall on the shore do they make a harmonious sound;/Only when breezes shake the woods do we hear a rustling in the leaves./Only from a marriage of two forces does music arise in the world./Where there is no love, where listeners are dumb, there never can be song."
This poem begins with a series of stanzas describing various men singing before a coterie of courtiers surrounding the king. Some are received very well while others put on a disappointing performance. An old white-haired man named Baraj Lāl fits into the latter category. The courtiers ignore his singing and some even fall asleep. Still, he has long been the king's favorite. In fact, he is the only singer that king enjoys. Humiliated, the old man goes to the king afterward and speaks these lines Finally, the poem gets to the point of it all with these closing words. It is not a poem about singers or even singing itself. It is about the duality of all things, but especially love. The singer must find the perfect listener to achieve pure harmony while in many cases the singer and listener in not in harmony as the song is being sung but not truly heard. Duality is foundation of the author's religion, and it is expressed here through metaphor. The concluding line could just as easily switch the placement of the words "love" and "song" and still make sense.
"With tears in my eyes, I ask:/Those who have poisoned your air, those who have extinguished your light,/Can it be that you have forgiven them? Can it be that you love them?"
These are the concluding words of the poem. Everything before leads up to this final line which keeps the title from becoming a mystery. A question is posed. The very first word of the poem gives away another mystery: to whom is the question being asked. That opening word is "God" and so the poem is framed as one-sided conversation between a speaker who hears that God's message to humanity is forgive everyone and love one's neighbor. The reality that the speaker sees is that most people turn away from their neighbors in need and multitudes are murdered in the name of hate. Man's justice is a bad joke, incapable of reform, and the true reforms are simply banging their heads against an unshakeable wall. And this is why the speaker poses that "Question" to God. It is not an uncommon question, to be sure. But that familiarity may be the whole point.
