The world kissed my soul with its pain, asking for songs in return.

Rabindranath Tagore, Stray Birds 167 (1916)

What it means

Suffering, in Tagore's picture, is the world reaching for us and waiting for a reply. The reply he chooses is to make something. Turn your hurt into work worth sharing.

The source

"The world kissed my soul with its pain, asking for songs in return." Rabindranath Tagore said it in Stray Birds 167 (1916). Translated by Rabindranath Tagore, 1916.

"The world has kissed my soul with its pain, asking for its return in songs."

Rabindranath Tagore, 1916, Stray Birds 167 (1916). Text read at gutenberg.org.

Who said it

Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941). Bengali poet, composer and teacher, and in 1913 the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. He rendered his own short poems into English in Gitanjali and Stray Birds.

Questions

What does "The world kissed my soul with its pain, asking for songs in return." mean?: Suffering, in Tagore's picture, is the world reaching for us and waiting for a reply. The reply he chooses is to make something. Turn your hurt into work worth sharing.
Who said "The world kissed my soul with its pain, asking for songs in return."?: Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941). Source: Stray Birds 167 (1916).
What is the original wording?: The world has kissed my soul with its pain, asking for its return in songs (Rabindranath Tagore, 1916). Translated by Rabindranath Tagore, 1916.
Is "The world kissed my soul with its pain, asking for songs in return." on a shirt?: Yes. We print it to order on our tees in 6 illustrated looks, from $44, with free US shipping.

Cite this line

"The world kissed my soul with its pain, asking for songs in return." (Rabindranath Tagore, Stray Birds 167 (1916), trans. Rabindranath Tagore, 1916). https://spartansurfers.com/quotes/the-world-kissed-my-soul-with-its-pain