When Day Is Done
When Day Is Done - meaning Summary
Rest and Renewal at Dusk
Tagore’s poem asks for gentle concealment and renewal when exertion ends. Evening and night function as a protective, restorative presence: darkness is a comforting veil that wraps the world and closes the lotus. The speaker imagines a weary traveler, stripped and exhausted, begging to be relieved of shame and want and to be revived quietly like a flower under the sheltering night.
Read Complete AnalysesIf the day is done, if birds sing no more, if the wind has flagged tired, then draw the veil of darkness thick upon me, even as thou hast wrapt the earth with the coverlet of sleep and tenderly closed the petals of the drooping lotus at dusk. From the traveler, whose sack of provisions is empty before the voyage is ended, whose garment is torn and dust-laden, whose strength is exhausted, remove shame and poverty, and renew his life like a flower under the cover of thy kindly night.
Feel free to be first to leave comment.