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The game in this room has come to an end
Now is the time to close its door
O my dearest one
You always remain hidden
At the end of the day when everything is disappearing
You stand before my disillusioned eyes
Let me see you once in this final moment
Let me know at the end of the game
What you have discarded what you have saved.
Seeing you from near I could not see you well
Against the backdrop of the horizon of separation
In the light of the setting sun
Let me see you whole.
I don’t know if I’ll understand
Why everything ends
Why this coming and going in light and shadows
Why this getting so much only to lose!
Nor do I know, O you supreme artist,
If in new colours you will repaint
Today what you have erased.
Translation of Shesh katha (E ghare phuralo khela/elo dwar rudhibar bela), the last poem of the collection Nabajatak, by Rabindranath Tagore. It was written at Santiniketan on the 4th of April, 1940 – a few months before his death in 1941. The original poem is at http://www.rabindra-rachanabali.nltr.org/node/12709
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