Do you surrender to juvenescence?

এবার তো যৌবনের কাছে
Ebar to jouboner kachhe menechho haar (audio)

'Do you finally surrender to juvenescence!
'We do'
'Feel the vigorous crispness of Being?'
'That too'

'Remember how you were fazed by figments --
Have you unearthed your true presence?'
'Assuredly'

'So now do you bow to life supreme?
See death as the chalice of immortality?'
'We so do!'

'There is a demon, a fog, fighting
To mask from you
Your divine kingdom.
Did you vanquish it?'
'We did too'

When I give, I shall hold nothing back

বাকি আমি রাখব না কিছুই
Baki ami rakhbo na kichhui (audio Santosh Sengupta)

When I give,  I shall hold nothing back
A handful of earth I shall splay your way
Your veil will be scented with fragrant buds,
My mingling of soulful blossoms of spring.

Across oceans, bays and southern shores,
You, my guest, have made your path
And I the grove, in return shall gift
Everything I hold and have
The nests I nurse lilt vibrant songs;
A gift from my soul to yours.
I become the ardent giver, as I bow,
As I die to surrender you my heart.

I never dreamed of reaping fruit

ফল ফলাবার আশা আমি মনে রাখি নি Phol pholabar asha ami mone rakhini (audio:Arghyo Sen)  I never dreamed of reaping fruit I am happy to shower my blossoms off At the slightest tug of the southern breeze When birds sing soulfully in spring, Their warbles wane with the wind, I, too, have let my scores slip, like fallen buds. When all blossoms are blown,  When I am left barren, all alone, What will that day be like, Never have I fretted, nor cared. Maybe, in my branches, bare with giving, This message will trill with a beat, 'I have given the ultimate gift, My heartbeat-sweetness,  My spring-time-bliss.'

Ah, my moonbeams, you are trapped

ও আমার চাঁদের আলো 
O amar chaander alo (audio)

Ah, my moonbeams, you are happily
Ensnared in my twigs and leaves
I hear you splay a cascade of songs
I witness the dam of starlight burst open
Your melodies pervade my heart,
My little homely porch within.

My buds crack open at your cue,
Respond, to your infectious smile,
The fragrance maddens the drift 
Wafting from the southern sea

Ah, silver beams, you endow me
You wash me in colour 
My impassioned heart can only whisper
Inexplicably intrigued by your smile

The blue horizon sizzles with buds

নীল দিগন্তে ওই ফুলের আগুন লাগল
Neel digonte oi phooler agoon laglo

The blue horizon sizzles with buds, 
Spring comes alive in fragrant flames
The baffled sky finds its sunbeams trapped
Happily captive, to mother earth, 
In gold sensations of mustard meads.
     
The blue horizon aches with hurt,
Pulses of my painful past,
Frenzied drifts of bygone days,
Of youthful springs, return to me
Seeking to resurface instantly
Embodied in waves on mustard meads.

What if I fail to recognize him,

(jadi tare nai chini / jodi tare) 
যদি তারে নাই চিনি গো

What if I fail to recognize him.. will he note me even so, 
This untouched day of spring.. I wonder so, I wonder..
To my napping buds will he whisper delightful ballads..
Enamor them this untouched day of spring..

I wonder so, I wonder..
Will he embellish my buds with hue.
Gently stir my heart.. awake me.
Will my drape of untouched leaves.. receive the sway too.
Will he guess my little secret this untouched day of spring..

I wonder so, I wonder..

Alights spring upon my heart

নিবিড় অন্তরতর বসন্ত এল প্রাণে
Nibido ontorotoro boshonto

Alights spring upon my heart
So dear, so very my own
And I gaze at you Oh Lord
Treasured wealth of every heart

Quivers a thrill of delight
Through the flowers so athirst
Winds and woods convey your touch

The spellbound cuckoo warbles
Filling night and day with song
Forests throb with rustling leaves

Such charm and exquisite beauty
Whichever way I look
Recedes all of my distress
All my sorrow comes to end

Did you rub off your footprints

চরণরেখা তব যে পথে দিলে লেখি
Chorono rekha tobo je pawthe dile lekhi

Did you rub off your footprints consciously
From the path you had once stepped on?
Crimsoned once by Ashok-dust,
I now see it vanish below the grass.

Flowers cease to bloom,
Birds  forget to sing,
Even the southern breeze
Leaves with a saddened heart.

Yet, when it thrived,
Wasn't it a source of deep sublimity?
Will death prevail,
And the living memories simply
Cease to be!

Fresh green shoots of leaves

নব নব পল্লবরাজি
nawbo nawbo pallobo raaji

Fresh green shoots of leaves
Sprout in all gardens and groves
Southern breeze bursts into song

The world is fervent with fragrance
My empty life cries in distress

Come my treasured one
Let my barren heart be
Replete with your presence

We are harbingers of fresh life

আমরা নূতন প্রাণের চর    
Amra nuton praaner chor (audio)

We are harbingers of fresh life!
Tramps of the road, that we are --
We have no home!
Did you think Winter would abscond
With his band of wilted leaves?
We will rob and disperse them
Across the southern breeze.
You, we will secure with youthful blossoms
Of our wreathe, in this house of Spring.
Did you wish to leave in secret
In guise of the Old decrepit?
Your raiment may be shrouded,
But how could you hide it!

Welcome spring, welcome to earth

এস' এস' বসন্ত, ধরাতলে
esho esho boshonto dhoratole

Welcome spring, welcome to earth
With cooings of new tunes, new songs, new life
In a breeze languid with heady fragrance
Infuse in each soul a consciousness deep

Bring waves of new delights
Joyful rhythms to rock the earth
All bondages shake free
Imbue new feelings of passion

Come in trembling rustles, humming murmurs
Come in dusky foliage, thrill of new leaves
Come in Malati bowers bursting with blooms
Come in comforting shades, redolent breeze

Come O eternal wayfarer
Seeking the road to paradise
Ever eager, ever curious
Step into hearts throbbing with joy
Breathe in new life with each new song

Welcome to the lap of a sun kissed dawn
Blushing a deep shade of crimson
Welcome to mesmerising moonlit nights
To the banks of babbling brooklets
To the calm of languorous lakes

Come like a flash of lightening
Thundering down like a storm
Rippling in waves over seas

Come to the dawn
Astir in wakefulness
To bustling towns
The woods and wilderness
Step into hearts
In words and in action

Come in soft steps tinkled by anklet bells
Come in warbles lilting with melody
Come in garlands of lovely Jasmine flowers
Come in raiment of tender verdant leaves
Come with the eager force of graceful youth
Come valorous one with fiery new pride

Indomitable one, embark on victory spree
In the battle to decimate the decrepit
Spreading far and wide pollen of new life
Restless locks of hair fluttering in air

Sweet spring comes to sweetly unite

মধুর বসন্ত এসেছে মধুর মিলন ঘটাতে
modhuro boshonto eshechhey

Sweet spring comes to sweetly unite
To spread the news of sweet union
In soft southern breeze

With a fleeting touch of magic
It nudges buds to bloom
In many a hue and colour
A love story it weaves

Behold the earth so primeval
Decked up in dusky foliage
As if to curb the reign of time
Gushes forth the spring of youth

Slays the pain of absence long gone
Heralds hope of a union new
Fresh spring comes to inspire fresh love

As if from my lost springtimes

অনেক দিনের মনের মানুষ
Awnek diner moner manush

As if from my lost springtimes,
You arrive, my friend.
The remnants that you left behind,
You have came to find in my heart
Retracing your path
Through blossoms familiar.
As if you have hopes you will find a nestle
Here in my soul, built with tears.
As if you have come to see if the lute of my past
Still resonates,
Or whether it is covered with dust.

From the moonless.. sea.. of darkness..

নিবিড় অমা-তিমির হতে
(nibir ama timir hote)

From the moonless.. sea.. of darkness..
Embarked in full.. tide.. 
The sailing boat.. of a blossoming moon..

The earth.. filled.. with unseen.. flowers..
Arranged her vase.. at celestial.. shores.
With a string.. of light..
Hued.. like the golden-jasmine..

Moments.. turned, at moment's banks..
The boat anchored.. at Dol****,
The earth.. smiled in her dreams.. in silence..

Bringing in a boatload.. of celebration..
Did she finally decide.. to moor..
With the full-moon.. this sleep-pirate..


****Dol / Holi - a spring festival observed in the first full moon of spring.

It is spring-tide. The earth trembles

বসন্তে আজ ধরার চিত্ত হল উতলা
Boshonte aj dhorar chitto holo utola (audio link)

It is spring-tide.
The earth trembles with yearning,
Her soul, like a baby in a cradle.

Joyous images quiver in the horizon,
Melody, like a playful little girl, swings, back and forth.
The blue sky heaves with bliss.

My eyes, sleepless with bemusement
Makes me wonder
Of someone that heaves in my heart.

He has sparked my hidden smiles,
He has put my joy up on a delightful swing.
He has cradled my deepest tears of a life time.

Invite your muse this spring

বসন্তে-বসন্তে তোমার কবিরে দাও ডাক
Boshonte boshonte tomar kobire daao daak (audio link)

Invite your muse this spring
and the next
but let her free to leave

Her missive shall remain
Like a lilting tune

She will be back when you desire 
Her heart will crack open with a song
in your garden-bed
Her pulse will beat in the cadence 
of boughs

Hold her tunes in your lute
Let her tears find their way 
with the humming bees.

Whose missive does the full moon

ফাগুনের পূর্ণিমা এল কার লিপি হাতে
Phagoonero poornima elo kaar lipi haate

Whose missive does the full moon
Bring tonight in Phalgoon*?
The message I can not fathom 
A pain fills my heart.
In Nature's first sunrise over the hills,
In which shores of Life unknown,
Did this message emerge?
In sublime sweetness of meeting nights.
Blossoms of the Madhobi** ever so often
Bring remembrances of celebrations
Of lovers' union, in nights lost beyond memory.
What magic spreads in the breeze like a dream?
Shadows shudder in the bamboo forests
With approaching footsteps invisible.

*Phalgoon - the first month of spring in Bengal.
**Madhobi - a sweet smelling spring blossom of Bengal.

The familiar fragrance of a flower

চেনা ফুলের গন্ধস্রোতে
Chena phuler gondho-srote 

The familiar fragrance of a flower
Wafting in Phalgoon* nights
Brings to my heart,
The breath of a soul
Forever unknown.

The soul who in my youth
Met my familiar eyes,
Played with me
In the dance of my tears and smiles.
Whose words have been whispered
To me by my beloved,
Whose music sobs like a flute
In the heart of my yearning.

Her name lies buried  
Among everyday-names.
A soul I found, and yet did not,
Whose fleeting touch I sense
Ever so often.

*Phalgoon - the first month of spring in Bengal.

An wakeful Spring is here

আজি  বসন্ত জাগ্রত দ্বারে
Aji boshonto jagroto daare(audio)

A wakeful Spring is here.
Don't let her down with your doubts.
Make your own flowers.
Forget the friend and the foe.
The sky is filled with music
let your fragrance blow
and carry your abundant beauty
to the outside.

A deep pain can be felt
in the leaves of the forest.
Who does the Earth long for
Who does she see in the far sky
and grace herself?

The southern wind touched me.
Whose knock is it waiting for?
The night today is high with fragrance.
Whose footsteps keep her eager?
My loving beauty,
who do you send this profound emotion?

Spring scrawls her symphony

বসন্ত তার গান লিখে যায় 
Boshonto taar gaan likhe jaay (audio link)

Spring scrawls her symphony
On the parchment of the soil
With great tenderness.

The soil melts with bliss, ever so often
Filling her bouquet with fresh beauty,
In great tenderness.

The same grace
Gladdens me with it's magic.
So my melodies blossom, irresistible,
With heart-sifting tenderness,
Ever so often.