Nov 30, 2013

Long live each joyous song.

জয় তব বিচিত্র আনন্দ
Joyo tobo bichitro anondo (audio)

Long live each joyous song.
Poet, long live your compassion.
Long live formidable
all demolition of wrong.

Long live elixir
Death, suffering,
long live your solace.

Long live your luminosity,
appalling gloomy night.

Long live your love, unity.
Long live your heartbreak.

Nov 28, 2013

When you celebrate your love

এত আলো জ্বালিয়েছ এই গগনে
Eto alo jaliyechho ki utsober logone (audio: Dwijen Mukhopadhyay)

When you celebrate your love
the sky lights up in joy
it reflects all on me
keeps you unseen.

When I celebrate my love
my heart lights up in joy
it reflects all on you
keeps me unseen.

Nov 25, 2013

Your words vanished in the dust

 লিখন তোমার ধুলায় হয়েছে ধূলি
Likhon tomar dhulay hoyechhe dhuli (audio: Shantidev Ghosh)

Your words vanished in the dust
And bit by bit
I lost trace of the script.

Lonely, on a late spring afternoon
I think I catch a cue of your calligraphy
Emerging
In fledgling, sprouting Nature.

The Mallika unfolds it's prolific fragrance
Reminiscent of you.

Memories of your soft hands
Recreate whispers
Of our aching farewell.

Your past phrases
Find roseate eloquence
In soundless shivers of the Madhobi creeper.

Nov 23, 2013

A bud waned in the deepest dark

কী ফুল ঝরিল বিপুল অন্ধকারে 
Kee phul jhorilo bipul ondhokare (audio: Suchitra Mitra)

A bud waned in the dark.
Her fragrance
Like an unfinished cue
Penetrated my slumber

She had arrived at night
Like a lonely bird
As an offering for sunrise

Frail,
She had ventured a prayer beyond herself
Her beauty unrevealed, nameless;
Leaving on the endless path
Of  irretrievable stars

I wonder what she had to say
With her sublime silence
I wonder, what brought her
To the obscure enclave of night.

Nov 15, 2013

Stay back if you like a prison

যে থাকে   থাক-না দ্বারে,  যে-যাবি  যা-না পারে
Je thake thak na daare, je jabi ja-na pare (audio: Suchitra Mitra)

Stay back if you like a prison.
Those who seek light, can fly.

If the bird wakes you up at sunrise
walk down the road less taken.

The green bud likes to engage
with dew in the dark.

A full blossom longs for light
The night blinds her cry.

Nov 11, 2013

The flower’s verse sings

 ফুল বলে, ধন্য আমি
Phul bole dhonno ami matir pore (audio)

The flower’s verse sings,
I am blessed I was born on earth 
In this home I pray to God.

I was birthed on the dust.
My heart is not made of grime.
Lean down, God, gaze at me
see how my petals thrill and throb.

Lend me your smallest touch.
Bless this darling of the dust.
A salute to you from mother Earth.