Why did the final breath have to come now? There were other times for excuses.

This couplet is a profound lament on the cruelty of timing and missed opportunities. The poet questions why the beloved did not arrive at the moment of ultimate need—the 'last breath' (दम-ए-आख़िर). He suggests that there were countless excuses and times available, implying that the absence was not merely circumstantial, but a deep failure of commitment and timing. It captures the agonizing realization that sometimes, the pain isn't the absence itself, but the knowledge that the presence was possible, yet delayed.