Aug 27, 2013

Deluging, endless rains

উতল-ধারা বাদল ঝরে
Utol dhara badol jhore (audio)

Deluging, endless rains
A lonely detained day

The wind, full of dampness
The river, rejuvenating, wild
Clouds, soft, enhancing
Shadows misting the wilderness.

And then in sudden epiphany
You arrive, my friend,
Bewildering my monsoon twilight
Making me anxious
To wipe your wetness
To let my tresses dry your feet

Let the night deepen
Let the darkness grow opaque
As I light my beacon of love
As I splay my heart to hold you

(another version by Rumela)

The clouds drizzle in restless flow
All day long alone in my room
A rain-soaked breeze blows strongly
The maddened river surges and swells
Dark clouds envelop the skies
Darkening the Tamal woods
O my beloved, you came at last
In what a state at the end of day
I will dry the damp with my veil
I will wipe your feet with my tresses
The dark night will deepen
I will light the lamp of love
I will lay down my heart
For you to rest your feet on
Forgetting life and death
I will welcome you in
I will overcome my coyness
And stand beside you today
Bonds and barriers will burn away
I will subdue joy and sorrow
Together with you on this stormy night
I will step outside without a fear
The clouds drizzle in restless flow
You opened the door and came inside
My eyes blinded by the flash
My heart awakened in thrill
I wish to look at your face
I lift my gaze and quiver in fright

Aug 14, 2013

You offered me your first yield

বাদল-দিনের প্রথম কদম ফুল করেছ দান
Badolo dinero prothomo kodomo phul (audio: Arghya Sen)

You offered me your first yield,
The fragrant Kadamba of monsoon
For my part,  I bring you
My rainy tunes.

I have shielded them
With cool shadows, dim skies,
Treasuring
My first lyrical fruition

I know today offers you abounding harvest
But tomorrow will leave you bare

And so each monsoon,
My songs will come to life,
My boat will be heaped with your honour
My melodies, echo your glory
Riding on tides
Of your lost remembrance

The night hums with endless rain

আজি বরিষনমুখরিত শ্রাবণরাতি
Aji borishono-mukhorito Sraabono raati (audio: Srikanta Acharya)

The night hums with endless rain,
I attach my aching memories
In one evocative garland,
Through the lonesome dark

I delude myself
Into keeping the door ajar,
Into imagining a friend arrive
To share my somber night

A heart who will mold music
From monsoon showers,
A soul that can enamor
Savory Kadamba buds

The muse who will perhaps,
Never show up --
For whom I embed
My yearnings on the soil
With patient contemplation

Aug 13, 2013

Pressing hours of high monsoon

যায় দিন শ্রাবণদিন যায়
Jaay din Sraabon din jaay (audio)

Pressing hours of high monsoon
Cloud my heart,
Whisper the emptiness
Of my bizarre longing,
Piqued by an enchanting dusk

A solitary night is imminent.
My lamp flickers,
With promise, questions,
The void vibrates with ambivalence.
There are no answers,
Only a wild wind
Embarks homeless on the pathway

The opaque dark has stifled my dreams.
But the night, wounded with heartbreak,
Hunts for expression, eloquence
Through the rustling music of rain,
The sodden fragrance of Malati.


Aug 12, 2013

The monsoon night culminates

আজি বর্ষারাতের শেষে
Aji borsha raater sheshe (audio: Debabrata Biswas)

The monsoon night
Culminates in a sparkling dawn
Sodden clouds
Dissolve their smoky kohl
With softened sun-streaks,
Iridescence crown the bamboo,
Colors trickle, ubiquitously.

The grass glistens, rustles,
Reverberating my vibes,
My vibrations.

I sense the soil's love,
The symphony of light.
I feel my blood rush with delight
My heart harmonize,
Laugh out, with the wilderness.


Aug 11, 2013

I splay my heart in the monsoon sky

নিবিড় মেঘের ছায়ায় মন দিয়েছি মেলে
Nibiro meghero chhayay mono diyechhi mele (audio)

I splay my heart in the monsoon sky
Beneath a clouded, opaque dimness.
I wonder if you sense my message
In your dreams,
Across a thousand seas

Waves lap with longing
Transporting the blues
From south, faraway rivers

A memory,
Merging the music of darkness,
Hovers along the path
Of irretrievable stars

My wakeful, aching eyes
Keep peering through a fruitless void,
An eternal emptiness

Aug 10, 2013

Beyond boundless monsoon

শ্রাবণবরিষন পার হয়ে কী বাণী আসে ওই রয়ে রয়ে
Sraabon borishon paar hoye kee banee (audio: Mita Huq)

Beyond boundless monsoon,
Undying rains,
A mysterious missive heaves in,
Misted with the secret spice of Ketaki,
Exuding the heartiness of Bokul,
Breathing an ancient lover's
Deathless tears of longing

A missive, that delves into the poet's heart
Amassing music to match it's hurt

A message whispered to a love
Lost in endless separation
Conveyed, softly, stealthily,
Through rain-melodies of Malhar
Like a momentous cloud messenger.


In my quest of a song

আমি কী গান গাব যে ভেবে না পাই
Ami ki gaan gaabo je bhebe na paai (audio: Sagar Sen)

In my quest of a song
I delve into the sullen sky,

The monsoon breeze
Replete with longing.

There is a passionate eloquence,

A dancing gig, strange, mysterious,
Among the trees blowing in the wind,
Which I yearn to learn, 
Spend hours to assimilate

My body responds to a

Wave of unearthly melodies, 
Deluging me
In streams of splendor

A secret thrives in the chasm

Of my shadowed consciousness,
In the twilight haze of my dreams,
Which I pine to possess
Very deeply.

Aug 9, 2013

Submerged in high monsoon

আজি শ্রাবণঘনগহন মোহে
Aji sraabonghonogohon mohe (audio: Debabrata Biswas)

Submerged in high monsoon,
in an opaque darkness
you arrived, as clandestine,
as secretive and soundless
as the sleeping night.

The dawn has shut her eyes
the wind calls out in vain
the brazen blue of the sky
has been dimmed.

Birds in the wilderness are speechless,
gates have been latched,
roads are unoccupied
but for you, lone traveler.

I keep my door ajar for you,
my friend, my love,
do not hover away from me
like a lost dream,
do not deal me with apathy.

Awash with monsoon vibes

এই শ্রাবণ-বেলা বাদল-ঝরা যূথীবনের গন্ধে ভরা
Ei sraabono bela baadolo jhora (audio: Subinoy Roy)

Awash with monsoon vibes,
Eternal rains,
The prolific fragrance of jasmine
A mystic image from antiquity sets in,
A lover yearning for her tryst
In the shadowed downpour

And I, deluged with longing
Hold my gaze to a solitary hearth,
Expecting a secret muse
At my doorstep
In the dark, in the drizzling twilight,
Singing a heart-sifting melody

(another version by Rumela)

This rain-soaked monsoon day
Filled with the fragrance of juthi flowers
She roves the dense woods, nook to nook
Wearing a veil of shadows
I seem to know her from a time forgotten
She who pines, estranged from her beloved

Why do I stare at the desolate road
What if she comes all of a sudden to my door
In the darkness of the clouded evening
She sings a song so heart-overwhelming


Aug 7, 2013

Emancipation is your only way

এই কথাটা ধরে রাখিস মুক্তি তোরে পেতেই হবে
Ei kothata dhore rakhish (audio)

You better not forget this
freedom is what you need.
The road that leads to light
is your road and odyssey.

Sing out loud
sing a song of daring.
You'll have to toss and turn
in the wind joyfully.

If you're moving round and round
you just need to stop it all.
When you walk, the road is rough
your feet will suffer injury.

Say goodbye to comfort,
never die with a timid heart.
If you want to have a life,
you must take the deathly hit.


Aug 5, 2013

If you will not save then why slay me

না বাঁচাবে আমায় যদি মারবে কেন তবে?
Na banchabe amay jodi marbe keno tobe (audio: Suchitra Mitra)

If you will not save
then why slay me?
Is there a meaning
to this grand agony?

I see the fire
in your arrow।
The earth trembles
at your feet.
As you make life
so do you hit.

I can feel how
you furrow my heart
to seek my gold.
But what makes you
think I own it?

I have a chest full of pain,
jewels for your crown.
Perhaps, my sorrow
will wake my heart
with dormant majesty.

Stand by me, my friend


Endure, this sunless morning of monsoon

I wonder if it was you in my dreams
When the night for me, was starkly solitary

As the day precipitates to nothingness,  
As the wind billows with tearful anguish,
Whisper soulful words to my heart
Slip your hands through my own