Don’t keep me in darkness

আর রেখো না আঁধারে
ar rekho na andhare (audio)

Don’t keep me in darkness anymore,
Let me see, O let me see
In you let me see my own self

If you make me cry, let me cry out my heart
I can bear no more the weariness of comfort
Let my eyes be washed clean by my tears
Let me see, O let me see

I do not know this dark shadow
That embraces me like a friend
And beclouds my mind
Casting a deep illusion

One dream after another pile up
A burden weighing me down
My lifelong pursuit is but in vain -
That light of mine lies hidden
On the other shore of night
Let me see, O let me see

- 20th April 1926


Another translation by Anandamayee Majumdar:

Don't keep me in darkness
now, let me see.
Show me my heart
in your seat.

If you wish, I'll cry.
Comfort makes me guilty.
Wash my eyes,
let me see.

I can't make out
this deep shadow,
but how it looks
like a dear rainbow.

My dreams
pile up in heaps,
my life's heavy
with an empty wish.

My light is eclipsed,
let me see.

Shaken by an absent wandering drift

এই   উদাসী হাওয়ার পথে পথে
 Ei udashi hawar pothe pothe (audio: Srikanta Acharya)

The buds keep falling to earth
Shaken by an absent, wandering drift
Gather them, with your gracious hands,
For I have heaped them at your feet

When I am gone, they will bloom
When you weld a floral wreathe
Let your fingers remember me

The sleepless cuckoo sings her blues
In an intense, enthralled night
Of broken-heartedness

Exchanged whispers in the air,
A pair's elation of blossoming love
Steadily melt into moonbeams of
A young spring sky of Dol*;

These sweet tunes will be saved
In the garland you fondly weld
For you to reminisce in posterity,
On a slow, placid afternoon

*Dol: The first full moon in spring - a celebration of colours (Holi) is observed in many places in the Indian subcontinent

Troublesome drifts

উতল হাওয়া লাগল আমার গানের তরণীতে
*Utol hawa laglo amar gaaner toroneete

Troublesome drifts
        turn around the vessel with my music
Swelling, whaling
Tantalizing your restive dance-waves
If the mooring dulls,
          if the rudder slips and falls,
                       if the water leaps and stalls
If a daunting future trifles with our doom
We will not be stunned,
                  we will triumph,
                               we will win over

*An attempt has been made to keep the original measures of the song

Now rob me of my every wealth

এবার উজাড় করে লও  
*Ebar ujar kore (audio: Srikanta Acharya)

Now rob me of my every wealth, now grab me of my all
Looking back, stirring up, evoking thoughts, my restless love,
On an early summer twilight, even if in a flash of starlight
Lavish a layover of play, hover on my deepest, dreaming heart

If this was your intention
To cruelly evade memories of our playful, merry mansion,
In this shattered house of games, rest a while all the same,
Absently as you tear the buds and fling them all apart

*An attempt has been made to restore the original measures of the song

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.

A hum of flitting bees

ঘরেতে ভ্রমর এল গুন্‌গুনিয়ে
 Ghorete bhromor elo

A hum of flitting bees bring me a message
From whom, of whom, I solemnly wonder
Stroked by soft sunbeams of a secret sky
Madhobi buds awaken in the arbor,
The bees chant softly to me
Of their magical act of spring-wakening.

How could I stay at home contentedly
When my heart simply wafts away
Counting each moment of trepidation!

What tender spells have they cast over me,
My chores, forgotten, as I lose myself
In webs of lyrical rhapsodies
Reflecting on the one they hum about.

The darkness still remains my Lord

এখনো আঁধার রয়েছে হে নাথ
akhono aandhar royechhe hey nath

The darkness still remains my Lord
This life soiled and miserable
My heart restless
A void all around

I look all around me
A path I do not find
Where is there peace
Where is an abode?
Where is there water
To quench my thirst
To alleviate this scorching pain
Where can my heart find an eternal refuge?


- 1884

You turn me away time and again

মোরে বারে বারে ফিরালে
more baare baare phirale

You turn me away
Time and again
The flowers I offer in worship do not bloom
The long night of woe does not end
A shroud envelops me still

When will life awaken in sweetness?
Lord, when will you take my all?
My body, mind and possessions


- 1906

The spring drift sends it's vibrations

আজি দক্ষিণপবনে
Aji dokkhino pobone (audio: Banani Ghosh)

The spring drift sends its vibrations
Billowing through the wilderness

My heartbeats echo with magical
Bracelet bells, to a dancing earth

The Madhobi creeper
Releases her inaudible exuberance 
In leafy whispers

Butterfly-wings take flight, conjuring joy,
Radiating vibes of celebration

Make me your euphonic lute

আমারে করো তোমার বীণা 
Amare koro tomaro beena (audio: Mita Hoque)

Make me your euphoric lute
Hold me up to pick your song
With gentle, glowing artful strokes
Endow my spirit with vibration

Your fingers will touch my soul
As only budding blossoms could
My breath will sing with dulcet notes
Immersing you in solitude

In rain and shine,  through my tears
My heart surrendered at your feet
I will gaze with love and sing for you
Through your absence, through defeat

This will be my secret spark
My surging, joyous melodies
Newness emanated in space,
Rising for eternity

Another translation meant for rendition in English by Anandamayee Majumdar

Would you make me
your violin?
Raise me high and sing?
Gently strum
Play and hum
Make your harmony.

Your fingers would
touch my heart
Like a bud
Like a bud

Whispering
My soul shall sing
To your own
ear.

Would you make me
your guitar?

Through my pain
In shine and rain
I shall be
Your own friend.

Gaze in love
Sing for you
When you're
Absent

None can see
how I sing --
My newness
fills the space

Joy be my
Melody
Rising up to
heaven.

Would you make me
your violin?

Listen to the sky sing .. and emulate the melody

আজ যেমন ক'রে গাইছে আকাশ
Aj jemon kore gaichhe akash.

Listen to the sky sing .. and emulate the melody.
Watch the blue gaze and mirror it's eyes.
Find the breeze rustling through the arbors
Inducing tearful passions..
So do you .. delve and murmur through my heart ..
And bring out the tears in me.

An evasive beauty lies captive

অধরা মাধুরী ধরেছি ছন্দোবন্ধনে

Awdhora madhuri dhorechhi / Adhara madhuri dhorechhi (audio: Kanika Banerjee)

An evasive beauty, an elusive bliss

Lies captive in my lyrical beats,

Like a bird from faraway dawns,

She sings lays of a faraway gloom

With the memories of my bygone springs,

Her wings are scarlet with Ashok stains

Her heart, reminiscent with rich perfumes
Of the tender buds she left behind

My maiden love of foreign lands,

Summon her by her real name

For you know her well enough

She, familiar with your skies and stars,

Answers to the tunes of your fragrant woods,

Dances to the pulse of your wristlet-rings

A pair of hands

আকাশে দুই হাতে প্রেম বিলায়
Akashe dui haate prem bilay (youtube link)

Who sends love
from the sky!
The sweetness rolls
across the world!

Trees save it away
in green leaves.
The earth carries it high.
Children soak it up in their skins.
Birds dip their feathers in the paint.

A child finds it in its mother.
A mother sees it in her child.

It rains down with tears.
It runs with brave blood
It looks like death
and flows with life.

It dances with ruin
it dances with birth.
It travels through space.
it travels in time.

My unseen, majesty

(arup tomar bani)
অরূপ, তোমার বাণী


My unseen, majesty may your message
bring freedom into my limbs, into my heart..

In the timeless festival of light among the incandescent stars..
I am only a mud-lamp,  animate the spark

The sacred deathless spark of your divine intention.

As the spring-breeze composes her music

through colors, through flowers leaves in the forests, in every direction,

Bless me with similar breath do fill,
a climax to the empty season, restore melody--
bless me with your compassion transform my bane to beneficence.

I shall find the sea of joy

অমৃতের সাগরে   
Omritero shagore ami jabo re (audio: Subinoy Roy)

I shall find the sea of joy.
I have an unending thirst.
You who feel my pain, please
show me the way.
Where do I hear
the sound of waves?

In the seclusion of your fountainhead

তোমারি ঝরনাতলার নির্জনে
tomari jhornatolar nirjone
(audio)

I know not when
My clay pot got filled to the brim
In the seclusion of your fountainhead

The sun sets down behind the hills
The geese take flight in which beyond
My mind drifts as I quietly listen
To the plaintive gurgling of the waters
In the seclusion of your fountainhead

I’ve wandered far and wide throughout the day
Hunting high and low for my daily needs
I’ll worry no more if they were met or not
Now I’ve come to the land that lies beyond all wants
To the banks of the never ending flow
I’ll partake of the wealth you give surpassing all needs
In the seclusion of your fountainhead

- circa 1918

The pure lotus smiles

অমল কমল সহজে জলের কোলে
*Omolo komolo shohoje jolero kole

The pure lotus smiles
in the lap of waters.
It does not look for its home
vainly, on the ground.

I will blossom with
the same grace
in your heart.
Flowers of devotion
blossom without
a shadow of a doubt.

I shall not ask the way
never ask another.
I shall simply be at ease
wherever I may turn.

When I am at your home
in the sky
your endless flow
will kiss me.
Your wind will be my friend
and hug me all around.

unawares, I heard a clarion call,

অকারণে অকালে মোর পড়ল যখন ডাক
Awkarone okaale mor porlo jokhon daak 

I don't know why, unawares, 
I heard a clarion call,
when I lay down and softly slumbered.
I found the world wonder-struck 
in a starry starry night.
Nature lay still in dark encumbered.

My dear ones -- anxiously they cried,
'how will you see through the night?'
I answered, 'I could travel 
with my own light,
I have with me 
the flame of rich amber.'

The more the lamp burned, 
it left me confounded.
the brightness, blinding me of all reason
casting shadows and fallacies around me 
figments of truth lost me my vision.

The more I hustled with my pride
the more I lost my sight
The wind blew and blew again
and down went the light.
On my way, it riddled me with treason.

All at once, branches struck my face
all at once, my lamp had died out.
I found I had lost my trail
long ago, in haze,
I found the night black and looming large.

I wept in sorrow, crying out in shame,
'I have in me nothing left to claim,'
and as I turned, He had come my way
my friend of life in all my misadventure.

An attempt has been made to restore the original rhythm.

How do you strum your fire-strings

অগ্নিবীণা বাজাও তুমি কেমন ক'রে
 Ognibeena bajao tumi kemon kore (audio: Dwijen Mukhopadhyay)

How do you strum your fire-strings
so the sky shivers with starlit songs?

You touch my pain similarly,
and spark my fresh creations.

You strum my heart, because it sings,
and use all of it, my teacher.

Your melodies flash and blaze in me,
birth new stars that seem to be
ignited with the deepest hurt.

I’ve dug out a path in my heart

আমি হৃদয়েতে পথ কেটেছি
ami hridoyete poth ketechhi
(audio)

I’ve dug out a path in my heart
In hope that you will come that way
And so it throbs weighed down with pain
It trembles with a violent quake

You travel the paths paved with pain
Your feet kiss and comfort all ache
And so I seek you with my tears
Forevermore through all my days

I fear not the deluge of tears
I fear it no more
Tugging at me with deathly force
It will take me over the seas
I will drift across to the shore

The gale sings with an anxious note
As it blows towards you in this storm
Let my raft sink, I’ll jump right in
And be swept to your feet
To be saved at your feet

- 23rd August 1914

Nothing has come of it

কিছুই তো হল না
kichhui to holona
(audio)

Nothing has come of it
All the tumult
The laments of despair
The endless stream of tears
The heartache and the agony

I fail to find peace within
I have not what I wished for

I loved and was loved in return
And I haven’t stopped loving
Yet what is this emptiness

- April 1881

The sails of my song billow in the wind

হাওয়া লাগে গানের পালে
hawa laage gaaner pale
(audio)

The sails of my song billow in the wind
Oarsman, do sit at the helm
Eager to be untethered
The raft of my life dances
To the rhythm of the breeze

Gone has day to make way for night
Not a mate I have with me at the wharf

Unleash all chains, set me afloat
Embark I will in luminous starlight
Melodious a tune surges forth
At this hour of setting sail

- 20th March 1914

Your breeze unbridled

তোমার খোলা হাওয়া
Tomar khola hawa
(audio)

Unfurling sails to your breeze unbridled
Unfastening my boat from its moors
Tearing away all its tethers
I am willing to sink and go under

The morning goes by in vain
Dusk too follows in its wake
Do not, o please do not keep me
Chained to the shore

I keep awake through night and day
For the One who will steer my boat
While the waves toy with me
Keep tossing me around

The storm I will befriend
Fearing not the frown of its brow
O, let me go, let me now go
I’d breathe a sigh of relief
If only I could find a gale

From dawn to dusk

সকাল-সাঁজে ধায় যে ওরা নানা কাজে
shokal shanje dhay je ora nana kaaje

From dawn to dusk they rush about
Engaged in many a chore

It is only I who sit, lost in my thoughts
Picking out thorns from the road
Awaiting the One, I gaze on
Thorns prick my sole,
Dust soils my frame,
I die of shame
As dawn passes into dusk


- 7th Apr 1914

It is now time for me to go

আমার যাবার সময় হল
Amar jabar shomoy holo
(Audio)

It is now time for me to go
Why hold me back do you?

Do not entangle me
With the strand of your tears
In attachments of affection

My life of leisure comes to end
Do withdraw your beseeching look
Do not call out to me
I must now hasten on

Hear, o hear.. the cries.. of distress,

সকাতরে ওই কাঁদিছে সকলে
(sokatore oi kadichhe sokole)

Hear, o hear.. the cries.. of distress,
Whisper words.. of hope Father..
Tell each one.. of good times.. to come..
Herald happy tidings.. to every soul..

They live in dread, disquiet,
Clinging on to their slightest hope..
Lost is the little they possess..
Hearts.. refusing to be.. consoled..

In pursuit of happiness..
They wander helter-skelter,
Chasing.. mirages in this desert..

Hours slip by, play comes to an end..
Descends the darkness of dusk..
Weeps the anxious heart..
Quivering in fright..

What will be.. O.. Maker!..
What will come of it all?..
Where, if at all is peace?..
Bequeath yourself to us,
Satiate all expectation..
Come into our embrace..

Why keep me in cosy comfort

সুখে আমায় রাখবে কেন
shukhe amay rakhbe keno
audio

Why keep me in cosy comfort
Keep me O Lord in your own lap
Comfort! Let it go up in smoke

Let the ground beneath my feet fall apart
You will then hold me tight
And cradle me in your arms

Let the deluge dance into my dwelling
If you sweep me away into the waters deep
I do not seek deliverance

I have succumbed, lost all my fear
Your victory is my own triumph
If I am caught, it is you then I can cling on

- 24 August 1914

From fear, to fearlessness..

ভয় হতে তব অভয়মাঝে
(bhay hate taba abhaymajhe / bhoy hote)

Away from fear,
into your fearlessness..
Deliver.. me to a new.. birth..
From dearth, to undying richness..
From doubt, to the abode.. of truth..
From insensate.. inertia..
Into a life.. anew..

From my wish.. to your will..
From my welfare to your service..
That seeks.. the well-being of all.
From the many.. entanglements,
To the one bond.. that unifies..
From joy.. and woe,
To the cradle.. of peace..
Deliver.. me from myself.. Lord..
Into your very arms..
Arousing me.. to life.. anew..

All that I have O Lord

আমার যা আছে আমি সকল দিতে পারি নি
Amar ja aachhe ami shokol

All that I have, O Lord
I could not surrender it all
My guilt, fear, honour and disgrace
My joys, woes and contemplations

Many a screen between us
Myriad the layers and veils
Thus I weep and wander so
Thus I cannot make you mine
Thus remains my pain within

Joy there is none in what I have
It makes me cry, it makes me brood
If I can get you by giving it up
Why can’t I still let it all go?

I yearn to give up all I have
And make you Lord, my own

- circa 1886 (age 25)

The heart yearns while the eyes remain downcast

প্রাণ চায় চক্ষু না চায়
praan chaay chokkhu na chaay
(audio1 - Srikanta) (audio2 - Kanan Devi)

The heart yearns while the eyes remain downcast
What an impasse your bashfulness has brought you to!
The beauteous one comes knocking only to return
For whom then is this futile adornment?

Not a word emanates from you
Burns a blaze in silence within
A bitter smile plays on your lips
While your heart sobs in its frailty

The garland feels like a nettle
Your bed besieged by thorns
On the coast of sweet union
Stricken to the core by eternal estrangement