In poem 52 of Tagore's English version of Gitanjali, a female persona speaks of a gift that a man or lover left her:
What token left of thy love? It is no flower, no spices, no vase of perfumed water. It is thy mighty sword, flashing as a flame, heavy as a bolt of thunder. (...) No, it is no flower, nor spices, nor vase of perfumed water—it is thy dreadful sword.
She is ashamed to wear it but she has no place to hide it either. However, the sword also has positive aspects:
Thy sword is with me to cut asunder my bonds, and there shall be no fear left for me in the world.
Does this mean that this sword symbolises emancipation? Or is that too superficial because the sword symbolises something else?
