Song Offerings -- XXIV

If 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 traveller, 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.

Rabindranath Tagore