When Death Comes to Your Door

When death comes to your door

at the end of the day,


what treasures will you hand over to him?


I’ll bring my full soul before him.


I’ll not send him away empty-handed


the day he comes to my door.


Into my life-vessel pours the nectar


of countless evenings and dawns,


of numberless autumn and spring nights.


My heart gets filled with the sight


of endless fruits and flowers,


with the touch of joy and sorrow’s light and shade.


All the treasures I’ve gathered


during my lifelong preparation


I’m now arranging for the last day


to give it all to death –


the day death comes to my door.

——Rabindranath Tagore