A few words I came to say

কিছু বলব বলে এসেছিলেম
Kichhu bolbo bole eshechhilem

A few words I came to say
And then in silence I stared

I saw you at the window
Flung open to the azure
Wreathing a garland
Jasmine buds in lap
Lost in your own thoughts
Humming a refrain

Steadfast in its gaze
The sky looked upon your face

A slight ray of light
Slivered through the clouds
To play on your dark tresses
In soft breeze stirred by rain clouds
Quivered a stray lock of hair

My thoughts

মোর ভাবনারে কী হাওয়ায়
Mor bhabonare ki haway (audio)

My thoughts gambol around
Intoxicated by which breeze
Sways my heart, sways for no reason
To a delightful thrill

My heart-sky is awash
With emotions so sweet
Dark dense clouds brimming
With fresh new drops of rain

I sight her not, even a glimpse
It is only in my mind I hear
There it sounds ever so often
Tinkling of anklet bells
That remain yet unseen

My secret dreams are enfolded
By an elusive gossamer
Tinged with a bluishness so new

Her loose tresses flutter
In breezy cloudiness
Casting shadows on earth
And pervading the skies

She has enthralled my heart
Stoking it to fervence
With the scent of rain-drenched flowers*
Wafting in from afar

* the specific flower mentioned in the original song is Ketaki known as screwpine in English

You seem to have strayed

জানি জানি তুমি এসেছ
Jani jani tumi eshechho

You seem to have strayed
Aimlessly on this path
Very well, for you
I eagerly open my gates

Empty of decor you arrived
I miss your ankle bells,
The chimes of your very eloquence;
Very well, come as you have
In austere simplicity
There in my garden
Maloti* blossoms flutter and fall
Pick them up, won't you
And adorn your loose tresses

I am unprepared for you
My lute too, is not tuned
Very well, let us meet
In my heart's room of silence
As cascades of rain,
Resonant in the woods
Play to the melody of my being,
A fleeting, wafting drift
In its cadent flow
Startles and cradles my heart.

*Maloti - a creeper that flowers in monsoon

My veil flutters in the tempest

ঝড়ে যায় উড়ে যায় গো
Jhawre jaay ude jaay go

My veil flutters in the tempest
I cannot draw it close
However hard I try

My modesty swept away
Countenance bereft of make-up
You glanced at me
After unleashing this cataclysm
Tormenting me to death

All at once skies light up
Who goes? Searching for whom?
Startling flash of lightning
Illumines my dark home

Then let my all be swept away
Into the pitch dark midnight sky
Let this tumultous roar
Resound within my soul
Let my words flow unrestrained

My lamp gently died in the gust

দীপ নিবে গেছে মম নিশীথসমীরে
Deep nibhe gechhe momo
Audio: Srikanta Acharya

My lamp gently died in the gust at night
But don't let the darkness turn you away,
When you approach with a soft heart

In the profuse dimness of your path,
The telling perfume of the tuberose
Will lead you up to your shrine
When you show up, with yielding steps

I dream that my remembrance
Will dawn in your memory--
And so I keep voicing my songs
As I await your promise,
With my unbroken vigil.

But fear lingers--
In case I fall asleep in my weariness,
In case I miss you, in the last hour,
In case, my voice falters
And I lose my melodic call!

My eyes peer in the depths of yours

আমার নয়ন তোমার নয়নতলে
Amar noyon tomar noyontole

My eyes peer in the depths of yours
      to glimpse what lies within your heart
There in illusions shadowy
      I lose my way as if in trance
I beseech with my silent gaze
      And yet I see no signs from you
Like one who cannot be consoled
      My eyes well up and drown in tears

Can you sense my feelings – the smallest tinge?
Can you hear what my garland wants to say?

As I amble along I lay out
My ache aflutter in the breeze
The flute casts a shadow melancholic
Can anyone fathom its speech ?

My heart listens not to reason

আমার মন মানে না—দিনরজনী
Amar mon maane na (audio)

My heart listens not to reason
By day or night

In what remembrances
A thrill overwhelming
Races through my body
In what contemplations
Do my eyes overflow
With tears unabated

Those words so sweet
That gentle touch
And my body sings like a flute
I get lost in that melody
My heart distraught distracted
I know not why

What words waft in the winds?
Whose face I see in skies?
What pleasing tunes I hear
In murmurous woods rustling leaves
Cascading tinkles babbling brooks
The heady scents of fragrant flowers
Embrace me like a bosom friend
These thoughts
This affliction so sweet
This joyous eagerness of mine
At whose feet can I proffer

My eyes seek in deep shadows

আমার নয়ন তব নয়নের নিবিড় ছায়ায়
Amar noyon tomar noyoner nibid chhayay

My eyes seek in deep shadows of your eyes
The blossom of deepest thoughts left unsaid
There in remote recesses deep distant
When did it lose its way?

With a fixed gaze it entreats the silent 
Finds not a trace of words concealed within
Like a child who cannot be shown reason
Wanders tearfully amidst the unknown

The words that hide within my heart
Do they cast the slightest shadow – upon your heart?
A lotus seat at my doorstep
I’ve drawn with the ink of my blood
Does it convey nothing at all?

Walking along the trails in your garden
I lay out my pain afloat in the breeze
With such hope the flute sends a message to the skies
Does no one understand?

For you I leave this song of spring

দিয়ে গেনু বসন্তের এই গানখানি
Diye genu boshontero ei gaankhani

For you I leave this song of spring
The year will turn, forget me you will
Yet this night of Phalgun
The pathos in my song
And your eyes did well up
Enough that is for me

I do not wish to stay
Till it’s time to call it a day
I’ll go as soon as ends this play

Phalgun will come again
Once more you will hear then
The songs of a new wayfarer
Words afresh with novelty new

Wellspring of my song

গানের ঝরনাতলায় তুমি
Gaaner jhornatolay

To the wellspring of music
You came at my twilight hour
Fill me with your melody
That streams forth in golden glow

The tune that bursts from caves within
Rushing out in eager flow
To seek the ocean of tears
Dislodging the rocky stones
That have hardened the heart so

The tune that drifts in the skies
Bearing the message of dawn
Melting with a radiant smile
Into the soft lap of night

The tune that empties itself
Filling the Champa* goblets
And then goes, away it goes
Having played its part in spring

 Champa: a fragrant flower of genus Plumeria

I arrange my lyrics

খেলার ছলে সাজিয়ে আমার গানের বাণী
Khelar chhole shajiye

I arrange my lyrics
Scoring them in joyful play
Day to day I set afloat
A raft I craft for that day

Swept adrift on playful waves
I know not if she will dock
In lands unknown far away

So be it if she goes down
If you rescue or discard

You who are beyond the known
This my play is but for joy
I seek not its fruition
Happy in my own delight
Blessed I feel just to play

Melody forgotten

সুর ভুলে যেই ঘুরে বেড়াই কেবল কাজে
shur bhule jei ghure berai

Melody forgotten
When I hasten about in work alone
My heart senses the rebuke in your eyes

Vistas vanish before my eyes
Lost are the skies and mother earth
Fade away in the far far beyond
Opulent azure sweet verdure
Their gentle caress eludes me
My heart senses the rebuke in your eyes

The cosmos conspires with the winds
To stir me into a fervence
With a hint of that melody

No place on earth is worthy enough
For you to take your royal throne
I even lose the hope to welcome you into myself
My heart senses the rebuke in your eyes

Light born from dark source..

অন্ধকারের উৎস হতে
Andhokarer utsho hote

Light born..
from the dark source..
is yours..

A good heart..
in doubt and divide..
is yours..

A home made
on the rolling road..
is yours..

A love made of steel
beats death.. in war,
is yours..

Riches left
when all is lost..
is yours..

Life which fills
an urn of death..
is yours..

The earth below
the mass' feet
is sky..

A heart..
which beats.. in all..
is yours..

Stars in the sky tonight are jewels

আজি যত তারা তব আকাশে
Aji joto tara tobo akashe
Audio: Srikanta Acharya

Stars in the sky tonight
are jewels glowing in my core.
Your earth came to me in haste
to fling herself at my door.

Every flower in your yard
blossoms, as it were in me
sprout from my heart and limbs
enlivened, wakeful, free.

Joy rises from the earth
with the fragrance of my heart.

This ecstasy so true and sweet

make offerings at your seat.
Haven't got a care in me
words and speech I do not heed.
The cosmic breath fill my lungs
my heart — a flute of rhapsody.

18 May 2020 (last edited) by Anandamayee Majumdar

As darkness descends

আঁধার এল ব’লে
Andhar elo bole
Audio: Purba Daam

As darkness descends
Homes come live with light.
By day I had cast my eyes away,
But at night, I fathomed,
I knew, whose play of life
Danced within the rhythm of my heart. 
My sleepless mind warbled with songs
Ever so often, like birds at dawn.
When all bustle turned to silence,
The spring drift gently stirred me awake
With the rippling murmur of leaves.

(another version by Rumela)

Here it comes, the darkness
The lamps have thus been lit

What I had forgotten in daylight
I recognise in the dark of night
I know who it is that plays
In the way my heart sways

Birdsong lilts now and then
In my woods bereft of sleep

When all is stilled
The spring breeze arouses me
With the murmur of leaves

The lonely frantic cries, through darkness

(adhar rate ekla pagal) আঁধার রাতে একলা

The lonely frantic cries, through darkness
begs, clarify, simplify, elucidate..
I am made with your radiance I your very boy

yet you have unleashed darkness before my eyes 
You hold back your face -- it hurts me so.
The twilight darkness writes its verse,
teach me the meaning of this..
Varied melodies from your life-giving flute

was all I had known,
Today the unknown deathly-lute I shall have to learn.. 

Tearfulness extends and exudes everywhere

অশ্রুভরা বেদনা দিকে দিকে জাগে
Osru bhora bedona dike dike jaage

Tearfulness extends and exudes, everywhere
The injury of a broken heart
Clamors for expression in the rain-clouds,
Breathing through the blues of monsoon

The spasmodic breeze resonates with a cry,
A longing for lost love, poignant and fruitless

(another version by Rumela)

A tearladen pain arises in all directions
Whose yearning rings out amidst the dark clouds
Racing along the restless breeze
Whose cry resonates in a song
Who pines away in a fruitless penance

Goddess of bounty

লক্ষ্মী যখন আসবে
Lokkhi jokhon aashbe (audio: Vikram Singh)

Where seat her will you
When she comes, the Goddess of bounty
Look within your heart you’ll see
Her favoured lotus
You have not culled

Bewails the morn breeze
Crestfallen in its pale light
Looks at you the wistful sky
A silent plea in its eyes

With such hopes secret
In the deepest dark of night
Floated up a flawless bud
From beneath the waters deep
Blossom it could not
Severed from its stalk by chance

Where do I find the sweetness
That heaven asks from this earth




Another version by Anandamayee Majumdar:

Where shall you seat
your goddess of bounty
when she arrives?
Look and see you have lost
her sacred lotus-seat.

The air, askance
with paltry sunshine
the soundless sky
dish out the same disquiet.

A green bud once took shape
created with hope
traveled till the dark
scaled deep waters.

But the stalk gave way
and the flower was unborn
and I wonder if I've got that
which heaven craves of earth.

O my heart, do keep the faith

নিশিদিন ভরসা রাখিস
Nishidin bhorsha rakhish

O my heart, do keep the faith
What you wish, will surely be
What you pledge, you’ll surely keep

Those who lie inert as stone
Spring they will to life anew
Mute who are will speak for sure

Time it is, O time it is
For each one to lift your load
The woe you take upon yourself
You can endure it for sure

When the bells ring out and toll
Come and join will one and all
To walk in grand unison
Marching on a common road

It is just.. you my.. dearest..

তোমারেই করিয়াছি জীবনের ধ্রুবতারা

Tomarei.. koriyachi.. jeebonero.. dhrubotara..

It is just.. you my.. dearest..
I have found.. to be forever..
My guiding star.. in the deep.. seas..
A sailor.. of rough.. tides..
I have no fear.. of losing.. way..
For you will deeply.. manifest..
Wherever I.. may drift..
Your rays.. will shine.. down
When tears.. flood.. over me..

Your face secretly thrives within..
When you .. if you ..vanish suddenly..
You leave me.. in sheer.. despair..
If some day.. my soul.. longs.. to go.. astray..
Your face I shall have to recall.. to find..
A sweeping shame.. cast.. over me..


(another version by Rumela Sengupta)

You I.. have made my pole.. star..
Lose my way I.. never will..
On these seas.. ever again..

Wherever it is I.. go
My guiding light do remain..
Shine your luminance upon..
My tears.. when they freely.. flow..

Enthroned is your face deep.. within..
A secret.. that is mine.. alone..
I find myself in deep.. despair..
If ever I.. lose sight of you..

Away from path.. of righteousness..
If ever my heart goes astray..
All I.. do is recall that face..
To see.. my heart.. recoil in shame..

Who is muzzled in your heart

তোর ভিতরে জাগিয়া কে যে
Tor bhitore jagiya ke je (audio)

Who is muzzled in your heart,
she struggles for the sun
and she cries from within?

If the wind blows with life
why do your songs not reply?
Now the light floods the sky
yet, there's nothing you can see.

Birds bring words of the sun
to the garden and the trees
Flowers crack with new hope
in varied melodies.

Here the night is now gone.
There, the light is left out.
Why this aching separation
in your home and the world?

Ensue will conflict if confront you do

বাধা দিলে বাধবে লড়াই
Badha dile badhbe lodai

Ensue will conflict if confront you do
Doomed to death you will be for sure
This, your grandiloquence will come to naught
Swept aside you will be for sure

With wealth amassed from plunder and pillage
Who among you wants to rule all others?
In a trice will you be levelled to dust
Shaken you will be if you wish to stir

Who are you cowering beneath?
Why do you weep?
Why manacle yourself in modesty
Remember that
Rich you are in richness of woe
Paradise you will have to build on dust
Sans arms, sans allies you will have to fight

She sits there by the casement

ওই জানালার কাছে বসে আছে
Oi janalar kachhe boshe achhe

She sits there by the casement
Her head resting on her palm
Blossoms scattered on her lap
To wreathe she has forgotten

Sussurant the breeze blows by
What does it whisper to her
That she sits half-reclining
Musing on many a thing

Shadows flit across her eyes
Drifting clouds and birds in flight
Bakul petals wither and fall
As the hours go ticking by

Sweet languor a sweet stupor
On a sweetly smiling face
Deep within in pleasant dreams
Plays the flute a pleasing tune

Why this untimely appearance

বঁধুয়া, অসময়ে কেন হে প্রকাশ
Bodhuya oshomoy keno he prokash

Why this untimely appearance
Sweetheart! Tell me this is a dream
A shining star from distant skies
Did you lose your way to this earth
An error sure yet there you are
A joyous smile on a sea of tears

Play that lone string on your Ektara

একমনে তোর একতারাতে
Ek mone tor ektarate

Play that lone string on your Ektara
Centering all your thoughts on it
The lone blossom of your garden
Make your bouquet with that alone

When you confront your limits
Happily call it a day
Gaily pick up the cowrie
That you find through His kind grace

Take not to heart what people say
Stop chasing after each fancy
Let your heart know He is within
The King of all that you cherish
Play that lone string on your Ektara
Lost in that tune all by yourself

Truant Monsoon

আষাঢ় কোথা হতে আজ পেলি ছাড়া
Ashadh kotha hote aj peli chhara (audio)

Truant Monsoon,
Your emancipation bewilders me.
Let me absorb your green, before you unleash.
Enamor me,
Hover over the meadows for a while.

Rain-clouds profess your triumph
As they parade from east to west
Thunder claps respond with your imminence

Palm boughs go berserk with dance,
Billowing wind tosses the enchanted Shaal* !

I catch a playful impulse
Bound across the sky to farther horizons
I sense the gripping game
Of shadows frisking in the arbors
I thrill to the maddened heart
Which churns the brimmed rivulets
With a frivolous swing!


Shaal* - a stout tree with large leaves

Here she comes with so thunderous a thrill

ওই আসে ওই অতি ভৈরব হরষে
Oi aashey oi oti bhoirawbo hawroshey

Here she comes with so thunderous a thrill
Sprinkling the earth with a few drops
Setting free a rush of fragrant fervour
Bedecked in a raiment of deep dense clouds
She comes with a youthful pride in her gait
Solemn darkness promising sweet relief
A quiver runs through verdure and azure
As the skies ring out in rumblings so deep
Frolics the peacock spreading it's plumage
The whole wide world thrills in eager delight
Clad in clouds she comes with wild abandon

Oh where are you wandering young damsels
Where are the women who seduce with a look
A startling flash of lightning in their eyes
Where are the maids who tend to jasmine blooms
Maidens who escort lovers to their trysts
Come, do come to the woods lovely dark and deep
Attired in colours of the deep azure
Play your Veena Oh enchanting angels
Let your gleaming girdles of gold jingle
To the rhythm of a dance so charming
Oh where are you lovesick lovelorn lasses
Maidens who escort lovers to their trysts

Bring on the music, drums, trumpets and flutes
Sound conch shells and cheer Oh country-maidens
Here come the rains with an amour anew
Our precious consort of comfort and joy
You who dwell in a cottage by the woods
Your eyes awash with eager emotion
Do compose a new ode to the monsoons
Inscribe the lyrics on bark of birch trees
And set them to the tune of Megh Malhar
Here come the rains with an amour anew

Scent your tresses with pollen from screwpines
Wreathe oleanders around your slim waist
Roll out a bed of Kadamba flowers
Beautify your eyes with collyrium
Tinkling your bangles to a rhythmic beat
Do urge your peacock to dance in cadence
With a sublime smile suffusing your face
Roll out a bed of Kadamba flowers

Here come the first showers of refreshing rain
Spanning the azure with their assurance
Rows of trees rustling in the maddened breeze
Melody spilling forth from vines and leaves
Poets of a thousand years congregate
To fill the firmament and the wild winds
With eternal songs of a thousand years
A thousand songs resounding in forests

A vivid downpour.

(aj bari jhare). আজ বারি ঝরে ঝরঝর.

A vivid downpour
  Today.. in the rains
Where can such
      Sky-shattering deluge.. contain?
The tempest.. hollers in the Shaal** forests..
 In the meadows, streams.. weave their way..
       Who is the angry.. dancer..
That flings open their tresses in ruthless dance?
My thoughts are possessed, can't be ruled..
              overcast.. with the tempest--
My heart.. high with gleeful wild.. waves..
   Rolling down.. touching the feet
                          Of an unknown.. love!
 Oh, this savage.. commotion!
Gates.. fling open..
an impassioned being.. awakes within!
Inside and out.. who is the soul that rejoices?



Another version by Suman Dasgupta


Heavily it pelts down this unceasing rain from the sky
Seems not a single drop can remain up contained.
Through Saal trees the tempest sweeps and cries
...Chasing little streams in the fields in paths astrayed.
Who has flung open His tethered cloud-like tresses
And started dancing, I wonder, with so much wild disdain?

O' I can't rein my mind as it gushes out with the rain
As it sweeps and pounds within me, like a tempest, in pain.
Can hardly contain my feelings as they spill out in waves
And break at the feet of my beloved insane.

O' my mind is so befuddled, my walls giving in their restraints
Wild impassioned horse in mine suddenly coming alive
In this dark and gloomy monsoon rain
This stir outside and in my within, I wonder, O Lord how you contrive?


Shaal** - A stout tree with large leaves
* - An indication to the mythological deity, Shiva -- the violent One -- He, whose dance indicates destruction and vice versa.

Rains cast a shadow on the sky

আবার এসেছে আষাঢ় 
Abar eshechhe Ashadh (audio)

Rains cast a shadow on the sky 
once more
the smell of raindrops float nearby.
My ancient heart sings 
a monsoon melody
thrilled at the deepening clouds.

In boundless meadows of fresh grass
unhurried shadows heap and multiply
'Here comes', my breath exclaims.
'Here comes', goes the song.The arrival happens here
in my eyes and my heart.

(another version by Rumela)

The monsoon arrives again
Clouding across the skies
The scent of the rains alight
Wafting along the breeze

This old heart of mine is athrill
Swaying to a new beat today
Gazing at the novelty of the clouds

Now and then the shadows creep
Along the blades of grass
Across the sweeping fields

“She comes” says my breath
“She comes” sings my song

She comes flooding my eyes
She comes deluging my heart

Let my emotions all stream to You

আমার সকল রসের ধারা
Amar shokol rosher dhara
(audio)

Let my emotions all stream to You
Each one lose itself in You today

Let your caress touch my life
Let the world thrill in delight
Let my eyes drown in your charm

You brought back my heart
When it had wandered away

My hopes that lie strewn about
Do gather them unto you

Let them sway on your bosom
After you wreathe into a garland

- 27th August 1914