The path of decided rift

তুমি কোন্‌ ভাঙনের পথে এলে
Tumi kon bhangoner pothe ele (audio by Srikanta Acharya)

What was that strange path
That led you to me,
The path of a decided rift,
In the nestling night?
All that ruptured and bled within
Are grateful to you
For your ruthlessness.

I have assembled them all,
My blood, my jewels,
In the necklace I weld.
Quietly let it throb on my chest
In a chamber of my hidden hurt.

You had picked up my sitar
Your slurs nipped cruelly at my heart.
When the strings snapped
You abandoned it on the earth.

I trust this lull as your gift
It hovers and wafts in the spring drift
Like muted music, bereft of melody
Like stunning silence unsurpassed.



(another version by Rumela Sengupta:)

Along which path of rift and rupture
Did you come in the quiescence of night?
Those things of mine which fell apart
Were blessed, smitten by your feet

I will string them with beads of my blood
To sway in secret on my bosom
As a precious keepsake of my pain

You lifted my Sitar to your lap
And plucked at the strings with ruthlessness
When they snapped, you left it on the ground

The silence of its song
I know it to be your gift
It wafts on the spring breeze
In a sweet tremor bereft of tune