I don't care if it will make you angry
But I must tell you the truth
These are my last words.
You are a lamp without a wick
It's a costly work of art but gives no light
It tempts me but makes me weary
And deadens my mind
Still I keep it with great care
Because I have no other way out.
I can see nothing in the dark
And I dream dreams
That conceal my real world.
You are so hazy
When I call you in great ardor
It sounds like flattery
But when it leaves you and goes beyond
It becomes a song
For one who is yet beyond my reach.
Probably she will never come
Yet enclosed in darkness as you are
You only direct me to her.
Dropping a deadly poison
Into the fountain source of my life
Your darkness has made my desire dead
The weakness that is in my blood
Has taken shelter in my frightened heart
Like a beast of burden it goes on bearing
The burden of an illusion of love.
It is so wretched, it is so cheap
Keeping it in bondage yourself you deceive
Won't you clearly see through this blunder
How you deprive yourself of a fuller gift?
You attract one whom you do not love
But tempt only with the leftover
Don't you realize
Your own indignity weighs down this insulted wretch
And you lose the love you withhold from me?
Translation of the poem Shesh katha from the collection Sanai by Rabindranath Tagore.
The original in Bengali script may be viewed at
