Morning and Evening

In the morning we find ourselves totally lost, while in the evening everything else appears to be lost except ourselves. In the morning, we are one in a million. We can see all the machinery and natural forces of the universe, which are at work. We can feel that we are also a small part of that huge mechanism. The same rule, which has arisen me in the morning, which has forced me to go to work, has also made the sun rise and the flowers bloom. I am just a small wave in that man-made ocean, and around me there are millions of such waves, rising and falling like me.

In the evening, everything calms down. I do not feel myself at the mercy of the universe. In the morning I belong to this world, whereas in the evening this world belongs to me. In the morning I am created, while in the evening I am the creator. In the morning all counting starts with me and finally gets identified with this world, whereas in the evening all counting starts with this world and end up with me.

In the evening I am the ultimate, I am the conclusion, I am the fifth act. In the morning I had an insignificant role in the whole drama, whereas in the evening I am the hero of that play. In the morning this world becomes the king; in the evening I am the king. In the morning I lose my identity, while in the evening this world loses its identity. In the morning I open all the doors and windows and try my best to reach out for this world, while in the evening this world opens everything and tries its best to reach out for me.

In the morning I need the world, in the evening the world needs me. In the evening I regain my identity. My heart gets filled up with a liking for beautiful things, which nothing in this world can satisfy. Only a distant song or music from the heaven can then calm down my desire.

Translation based on Bengali works of Rabindranath Tagore.

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