If You Call Me I Will Come

- Sarojini Naidu

Sarojini Naidu, also known as “The Nightingale of India”, is the author of this poem.
She was born into a Bengali family in 1879. Naidu began writing poetry as a child. Naidu
attended King’s College in London and Girton College in Cambridge. Her first volume of
poetry, The Golden Threshold was published in England in 1905. The poem, If You Call Me I
Will Come, is published in her poem collection named The Gate of Delight.

The Poem ‘If you call me I will come’ is a passionate offering of the self to the lover. It
is a highly reflective poem of Sarojini Naidu. She brings out ‘the sweetness of sorrow’ and
‘the pleasure of pain’ in love through this sensuous poem.

In this poem, the beloved offers herself completely for her lover. She declares an
eternal and lofty love for her lover who remains unmoved. At first, the speaker addresses her
love saying that she would come swiftly if he calls her. She compares herself to a ‘trembling’
deer which in fear would run away from a hunter and a ‘panting’ dove, which is tired due to
its long flight. Next she compares herself to a snake which runs to a charmer’s enthralling
music.

The speaker feels desperate to revive a waning love in this poem. She tells her lover
that if he calls her, she will come fearless of any obstacles they might face. She, finally, says
that she will come faster than lightning.

She, further, expresses her love by saying that she will persist on loving him even if
death serves as a hurdle and life unfavours their union. In this poem, the speaker professes
her unending love for her lover in a beautiful and heartrending manner.