The veena plays without a tune

Within the end lies the endless,
this thought stirs
in my mind today...
as my song concludes...
awakening moment by moment.
The melody has ceased, yet still
it seems unwilling ever to stop,
in silence the vina plays on
without need or reason.

When struck, it sounds,
when it rings in tune---
the greatest song of all
remains far beyond reach.
When all improvisation stops,
descending to the tranquil vina,
like evening at day's end
it sounds in depths profound.

My king remains unknown to me.
So when he demands steep tribute,
I think to myself, I'll slip away and cheat him,
leave this debt unpaid for lifetimes yet to come.
Wherever I flee in deepest secrecy,
hidden behind day's labors, in dreams when night falls,
his summons comes
with every breath I breathe.

So I have learned—I am not unknown to him.
And more I've learned: pressed by debt's burden,
selling my refuge
left and right,
I have no address that I can call my own.
Therefore I've resolved, in life and death,
whatever I possess, I'll settle at his feet.
Then afterward,
by my own strength,
in my own right,
I'll find my true home in his kingdom.