Don’t wake her

ওরে জাগায়ো না
ore jagayo na

Don’t wake her
She seeks respite at the feet of unsparing fate
She wants to forsake all her wants
Pouring them into a plumbless depth

Let her put down the unbearable burden of anxieties
Let her forget the deprivations of an insignificant life

Let a deep sleep descend
Let its ebon brush black out
Taunts of the past from her memory

Let the echoes of pain subside into stillness
Like the nest of a quiescent bird
Let a dark night descend
A gift of peace to the dumbstruck darkness of weary woe

Spring parts with a smile

বসন্ত সে যায় যে হেসে
Boshonto she jay je heshe

Spring parts with a smile
Leaving a few buds in her wake
You will leave, just as well,
Your laughter will have left
Not before you offer a scarlet bud
From your tresses, as my keepsake

I will live with my memories
Alone on the shores of the river
A river that melted my mortal love
Like a clay idol I once worshipped
In my heart I will reflect on your face
Your tearless face

The sun sets as you leave
Which is well -- let the dark descend
Let light stay concealed by shadows
After the partnership is over

An absent breeze in its wake

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

An absent breeze in its wake
Sends green buds shimmering to the earth
I have gathered them with love
As I lay them down at your feet
Won't you graciously accept?

When I am gone let them bloom
As you weld them together
I hope your fingers remember me
With sweet, tearful memories

The pitiful cuckoo, awake tonight
Hums her fruitless longing
Into the enthralled darkness
The memory of a couple's whispers
The magical trance of togetherness
Waft away with the moonbeams
Towards the full moon of Dol

These images will find their way
Into the wreathe you weld today
So that you can revoke them
Sometime later in your daydreams
On a slow, sleepy afternoon

Love that is birthed by the scorching fire of pain

দুঃখের যজ্ঞ-অনল-জ্বলনে জন্মে যে প্রেম
dukkher joggo-awnol-jawlone

Love that is birthed by the scorching fire of pain
Radiant is its gold
Forever free of doubts
Everlasting is its honour

Beyond the world of anxiety
It lives in a place made holy by the pain of separation
Where burns a fire stoked by eternal disappointment
Liberated from cravings, it remains untarnished forever
Everlasting is its honour

Bathed in tears, radiant is its penance
It achieves immortality in its sacrifice
Everlasting is its honour

The one who flit across my dreams

যে ছিল আমার স্বপনচারিণী
je chhilo amar swoponcharini
(audio)

I could not fathom the one
who flit across my dreams
Days went by in search of her

You beckoned me at an auspicious moment
You draped me and covered my shame
I fathomed you with ease

Who will slight and turn me away?
Who will call out and draw me close?
In whose love will I be valued?
I can grapple no longer with these doubts
Only you I have fathomed, only you

No, no, do not make a mistake

না না, ভুল কোরো না গো
na na bhul korona go

No, no, do not make a mistake
Oh do not make a mistake
Do not make a mistake in love

Do not beguile me
Oh do not beguile me
Do not beguile me with fruitless hopes

I live with the pain of separation
I am conversant with its language
It does not trick me

Feigning mercy, do not be merciless
In offering your heart, do not break my heart

Do not keep me in temptation
Weaving a deathly spell of melody
Do not lure me to utter destruction

I have lost my entire universe

আমার নিখিল ভুবন হারালেম
amar nikhil bhubon haralem

I have lost my entire universe
Melody plays no more
On the Veena of my world

My homeless heart heads down an unlit path
I descend into the depths of darkness

The evening star in your eyes
Let it shine upon my path

I have wasted many a parched hour
Chasing mirages in vain

At day end, this weary wayfarer
Pushes forth on a pilgrimage to your heart

I live from hope to hope

আমি আশায় আশায় থাকি
ami ashay ashay thaki

I live from hope to hope
My eyes athirst and anxious

Sleep and wakefulness interlace
In my dreamy euphoria
Who do I call gazing at the distant horizon?

The woods are alive
With the whisper of tearful words
What is it the bird sings?

I know not what to say
A colourful mist envelops my life

When near she was

কাছে যবে ছিল
kaachhe jobe chhilo

When near she was, I failed to go to her
When she left, I realised her absence

When the oarsman waited at the quay
I did not spare him a glance
Now I hear the splash of his oars from afar

The playhouse in which I did not play
There I sit forlorn night and day

The words from days gone by
Build a nest in my dreams
Today I merely look back with eyes awash

You seem to be drained of all life-force

তোর প্রাণের রস তো শুকিয়ে গেল ওরে
tor praaner rosh

You seem to be drained of all life-force
Fill then your goblet with the essence of death

Extracted from the fire of the funeral pyre
It is the balm for all scorching pain
It colours every void with a raucous laughter

Your sun hides behind dense clouds
Your day is spent in meaningless tasks

Then let it come, the dark night
The ultimate friend to the craze of obliteration
Let it cloud your weary eyes with a fog
That befuddles your sense of direction

No, no, I won’t fear the pain of parting

না রে, না রে, ভয় করব না
na re, na re, bhoy korbona

No, no, I won’t fear the pain of parting
I will fill it with my own sweet solace

My tears will keep it fresh
My thoughts will string it into a rosary
I’ll wear it as a necklace

You will step from my sight into my heart
Your words will mingle with my song
Through the days of agonising ache
I’ll strive to know you in the glow of my pain

She comes in dishevelled state

আকুল কেশে আসে
aakul keshe aashe

She comes in dishevelled state
She gazes in dejection
Who is she, ever pining for her beloved?
At dawn when my eyes are heavy with sleep
In my lonely abode, with the fragrance of flowers wafting in the wind
She drifts into my morning dream as I lay ensconced in my bed

I wake up with a start
Her shadowy form fades away in a flash
All she leaves behind is a fervent yearning in the garden

Cast.. away your agony..

না , না গো না
(Na na go na)

Cast.. away your agony..
Let the night.. recede
I will not leave.. my love..

I withdraw.. only.. to return..
My trail.. cuts across mysteries..
Of sunshine.. and shade..
My heart.. swings..
Between.. togetherness.. and rifts..

With every.. rhythmic.. churn..
I am breath-taken.. by your endlessness..

When you are concealed..
Even for a flash..
I am torn.. tormented..
As though you are lost.. forever..

Fly along little bird

ছিন্ন শিকল পায়ে নিয়ে
Chhinno shikol paaye niye (Audio: Ritu Guha)

Fly along little bird,
Even as the remnants of a chain
Dangle at your feet.
Let it chink,
That slight fetter.
Your wings will be free
As the wayward clouds call out to you

This sacred hurt you sense, is freedom
The liberated love of a pure space in the sky
Don't  mock yourself any more, let go

You were in a cage for so long
Your fantastic hopes lived there,
As well as died
Leave them all beneath on the dust forever

Do not leave now itself

তুমি যেয়ো না এখনি
tumi jeyo na akhoni

Do not leave now itself
Lingers still the night
Lonely is the road
Dense is the darkness
The forest filled with nettles
The earth covered in shadows

With much hope in my heart
I light a lamp and wreathe a garland
I have not sighted you, my friend, in all my days

Today I’ll set off for the shoreless unknown
I’ll set afloat the raft of my life
On the surging ocean of love

My friend, why did he come to my door

সখী, আমারি দুয়ারে কেন আসিল
shokhi, amari duare keno

My friend, why did he come to my door?
The ascetic with his alms bowl at dawn
Why did the Veena resonate with such pathos?

I notice him each time I go past
Should I summon or turn him away, I wonder

The dark horizon of monsoon
The clear sky of autumn
The southern breeze of spring
The flowering foliage of forests
He sings of them ever so often
In many a song with a myriad feelings
I get distracted from my work
My eyes awash in tears

Why did the little bird leave

বনে যদি ফুটল কুসুম   
Bone jodi phutlo kushum (audio: Kanika Bandyopadhyay)

Why did the little bird leave
Even as the arbors flower in ecstasy?
Did she find herself a shelter
In the faraway, invisible sky?

When the breeze thrills to effulgence
Boughs billow and dance,
When melodies melt with sweetness,
Why is she the only cast-alone?

What exotic urge drew her far
To seek out lush, unseen shores
With such enthralling sadness?

While spring calls out to her, nearby,
This stunning night transforms 
Into a night of ache and longing.
Why does she, then, elude herself?

Days pass, one after the other

দিন পরে যায় দিন 
Din pore jay din (Audio by Debabrata Biswas)

Days pass, one after the other.
As I pause by the way,
My songs, one after the other
Go drifting by in the breeze.

The hours stretch on,
And so does this playful fascination
Of welding tunes together.
A mirage of a melody
Appears distantly 
Somewhere in my dreams.

Days pass, one after the other,
Yet you do not appear to me.
I hum my songs, one after the other
In my solitary pause.

Perhaps you willfully keep away
So that my tunes can flow,
For love brings pain
To the one that is loved.

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

Whose gaze sways your heart?

কার চোখের চাওয়ার হাওয়ায়
kaar chokher chawar haway

Whose gaze sways your heart?
You seem forever lost in the clouds

Your smile weighed down by tears
Your thoughts tinged with silence
Your words veiled in melody

Whose Midas touch plays havoc with your soul?
Rows of clouds lined with gold
Flit across the firmament of your heart

Your eyelids set off golden ripples
Glinting across the stream of the day
Light and shade quiver in the corner of your eye

My morning star seems to come back

এই বুঝি মোর ভোরের তারা
ei bujhi mor bhorer tara

My morning star seems to come back
In garb of the evening star
She looks down in wonder
Smiling her perpetual smile

I glimpsed her not in the morn
When did she set off by herself?
Crossing the ocean of light
She debarks at the shore of darkness

At dawn she filled my heart with songs of the road
At dusk she plays her Veena to which score who knows

The sweet overture of a friendship new
Never ceases to play
She soothes my heart time and again
In ever new ways

On your colourful leaves

তোমার রঙিন পাতায়
tomar rongin patay

What message of my heart
Do I write on your colourful leaves?
Where can my brush find such colours?

The colours do not tinge my tears
They dwell deep within my heart
How do I express my innermost thoughts?
Can words capture them in all candour?

My friend, will you comprehend my candidness?
I do not have the flair or flourish
What little melody there was
Has slipped through the façade
To resonate deep within
He alone knows it, my inner Lord
How do I express my innermost thoughts?

Let go of your pride and ego

মান অভিমান ভাসিয়ে দিয়ে
maan obhimaan bhashiye diye

Let go of your pride and ego
And beckon to her, do beckon her on

Blend in a smile with your tears
And pour it at her feet
Do pour it at her feet

She comes casting a shadow on the road
Darkness looms across the sky
Withered flowers are cast off
And time slips by, O it slips by

Amidst the much I acquire

অনেক পাওয়ার মাঝে মাঝে
Awnek pawar majhe majhe

Amidst the much I acquire
When is it I get a slight something?
That slightest which evokes the southern breeze

The days go by, one after another
As if swept along with the road
Skirting my home as they come and go

There comes a dawn that alights in my room
The one I’d wished for my whole life long

In wake of the light that’s lost to me
I cull a few flecks of radiance
To wreathe the garland of my life

I decorate my salver with that garland I stitch together
From the luminous bits of days gone asunder
The thrill of the one moment
The fleeting flame of the lamp
The half-sung song on the lone string of my lute

My cup of woe brims over

বেদনায় ভরে গিয়েছে পেয়ালা
Bedonay bhore giyechhe peyala (audio)

My cup of woe brims over
Do take it
I’ve poured into it cleaving my heart
Do partake it

Holding close that overflowing cup
I’ve wandered through the night
My dearest, do accept it at the break of dawn

My desire has tinged it with colour
Do lift it to your crimson lips
Let it absorb your breath
     and the floral fragrance of the morn
Let it reflect the glow in your eyes


Another version by Anandamayee Majumdar

The wine of my heart
Wrung with pain, fulls my cup
For you to sup, to drink.

I carried it, brimful,
Through the nightfall.
Have it now;
It has aged with light.

It reaps it's glow
From my burning, whole desires;
Savor, with your sunshine lips,
With compassion.

Breathe
The flower-some aura of dawn into it,
Lay your eyes on it --
This quintessential milk of my soul

Do not go away without a word

না বলে যেয়ো না চলে
na bole jeyona chole

I beg of you
Do not go away without a word
Carrying off my heart in secret

I stay awake through the night
My eyes grow heavy with sleep
I fear I’ll lose you if I doze off

Startled for a moment I look for you
Time and again it feels like a dream

My heart longs through night and day
To entwine myself around your restive feet

If my day goes by do know

আমার যদি বেলা যায় গো বয়ে
amar jodi bela jay go boye

If my day goes by, do know
My heart is submersed in you

I sit beside the road
And wreathe a garland for you
Do know, my mind is engrossed in it

The wayfarers have all gone past
Taking many a way in much tumult

My way is in culling flowers
And filling my basket with my own hands
Do know, in secret solitude

What game will you play with my heart

আমার পরান লয়ে কী খেলা
amar poran loye ki khela

What game will you play with my heart
O my heart’s dearest!

It has drifted to your feet from afar
Do pick it up

It is not a bunch of leaves
Or fruit and flowers that have gone adrift
It is my heart filled with grief
Do keep in mind

No one knows why it goes to and fro
Who comes beside whom drawn to what?
If you bestow your love, it will find eternal life
If you cast off, how will it survive?

My bird, bird of my nest

পাখি আমার নীড়ের পাখি 
Pakhi amar neerer pakhi (audio)

My bird, bird of my nest,
Is spry with urge, I wonder why.
Has she heard in the farthest sky
The purling whispers by the light of dawn!
A call from the clouds stirs her wings,
Those drowsy plumes  would love to fly.
An absent blue strokes her heart,
The gentle blue of the morning sky.

My bird, bird of my nest
Soars away lost in depths.
She does not look for anyone,
She does not wish to catch her day.
Her pitcher is now full of songs
That she would love to give away,
To pour her heart's every phrase
Into the silent sea of lays.

I glimpse you now and then

(majhe majhe tabo dekha pai)  মাঝে মাঝে তব দেখা পাই,

I glimpse you now and then
Why not forever more.
Why do clouds engulf my heart?
(Not letting me see
The clouds of illusion blind me
Not letting me see.)

In a sliver of light in the blink of an eye
When I catch a glimpse– of you

I am ever fearful of losing you
Only to lose you in a flash.
(I lose you before my hopes are met–
I lose you before I can blink my eye–
I lose you before my heart is soothed
I lose you in a flash.)

Tell me how to attain you,
To keep you within my sight
Where will I find so much love O Lord?
To give you place in my heart
(Can I dare to–
If you are not kind who can dare.
If you do not come yourself
Who can keep you in their heart.)

None else, will I look up to
If you command, I will– this very moment

With all my heart and soul
Surrender my passions and possessions.
(I will surrender at your feet
I will surrender without hesitation
I will surrender to you my passions– and possessions–.)