Rabindaranath Tagores Poems III by Viswadeep Das - HTML preview

100. The Final Trophy34

You have strewn the path of your creation

With a varied deceit,

O deceitful Dame.

A crafty hand has set the trap

of vain confidence

In a life without guile.

Even You have stigmatised greatness

with that fraud,

Without keeping the night a secret for him.

The path on which Your star guides him

Is indeed his inward path,

Ever frank,

In innate confidence,

He keeps that ever resplendent.

Without, however it be crooked,

it is straightforward in heart,

Therein lies his pride,

Even though people call him a victim,

He is in communion with truth

bathed in its own light in the heart of heart.

34 Pratima Devi, the Poet's daughter-in-law enjoyed his confidence. She writes in Nirvana - the account of his last days - that, in the morning of 30 July 1941, shortly before his operation, the Poet dictated this poem; after adding the last three lines, he hoped to revise it later. But he never regained his consciousness. He also dictated a letter of thanks to Pratima, for her long years of devoted and affectionate service ; at the end he remarked : "There comes a moment when everything stops, and that moment is near. Passing beyond, I shall await pe ace." He signed it. This was his last signature.

Nothing can deceive him,

Carrying his final trophy

He returns to his store-house.

He who has effortlessly suffered all deceit

Acquires from Your hand

The right to Peace everlastingly.

[ shesh lekha, "Last Writing", No.16, 1941]