This world..of happiness..

আনন্দলোকে মঙ্গলালোকে
Anondoloke Mongolaloke

This world.. of happiness..
This world.. of well-being
Grace.. this with your presence
You who.. are the ultimate truth..
You who.. are the ever beauteous..

Your majesty.. manifests..
Across the vast.. firmament..
Like an anklet studded.. with
Precious.. stones.. and prized jewels..
Lies the cosmos.. at Your feet..

The sun.. moon.. stars.. and planets..
With eagerly anxious.. haste..
Bask in Your iridescence
Soak Your boundless.. radiance..

Cascades of your soft sweet.. grace..
Gush forth and deluge.. the earth..
In a kaleidoscope of
Flowers.. leaves..
Songs..  sonnets..

Life.. flows on ever anew
Your compassion caressing..
Our lives.. from cradle.. to grave..

Love.. affection..mercy..
Piety.. hope.. faith.. untold..
Mellow and soften.. our souls..
A downpour of sweet.. solace..
You rain to pacify pain..

What festivities and joy..
Reign forever.. in Your realm
The world sings.. Your glory great..
In fearless.. refuge at Your feet..
You who.. are our treasure and wealth..
You who.. encompass all of this earth..

(Another attempt rendition in English  by Anandamayee Majumdar  English rendition.. yet another bilingual rendition..)

In the land of joy.. in the heart.. of love..
I see your seat.. true.. exquisite.

Glory.. love.. light up
sky.. and beyond.
The universe..
bedecked.. with stars..
at your feet.

Sun.. and earth..
moon.. and stars..
dancing to the beat..
Drinking light..
Bathing light..
Immortality..

Fountain spring..
Splendor green..
Streaming creation..
beats.. bowers..
songs.. flowers..
vibrant melodies..

Night.. and day..
Life.. in sway..
Re-invigorated
Compassion..
Your motion..
Life.. and decease..

Tenderness..
Love.. grace..
Reverence.. devotion..
Touch.. me here.. touch me now..
with serenity..

Celebration..
Jubilation..
Dear.. universe..
Abundance.. your way of dance..
in tranquility..

What is this compelling light

কোন্‌ আলোতে প্রাণের প্রদীপ
Kon aalote praaner prodeep / Kon alote praner prodip
(Audio by Suchitra Mitra)

What is this compelling light
Which burns your spirit, stokes your soul,
Makes you live an earthly life,
My zealous lover, pious monk,
Divinely crazed, my angel-soul?

Each ache and wound in you creates
Winged, wondrous melodies
Quivering quaintly from your strings!

How do you smile in the face of fear
As though you had seen a mother beam?
Who is it you seek, my dear,
Scorning every earthly dream!

Who is it, your secret love
That raises all the tears of urge?
Who is it, your soulful mate,
That walks together on your path?

How do you find the peace of mind
To dismiss death with disregard,
Riding upbeat tides of seas
In endless waves of ecstasies?




Another version by Suman Dasgupta:

Where did you light the flame of your heart
O noble soul before you descended on earth.
You devout, you lover, O you romantic
As you embraced this world, gazed I in frantic.

In this relentless struggle of life,
Every pain and sorrow life did contrive
You can play those in your core
Like sad triads of the Veena encore.
Belying deep distress or any such strife
Yet you succeed to wear that smile as bright
Just like the one, as I've known
Only a beaming Mother could've shown.

I know not for whom you wildly roam around
Why you let go the cosy comfort that you'd found
Why you cry, why inconsolably crave?
Who is she for whom every love you save?

You are confident and your mind is free
Wonder I whose blessings on you could that be
As you defy death and ride on the crests of seas
Swimming through your life with endless ecstasies.

Lavish.. cascades.. of sunshine..

আলোকের এই ঝর্ণাধারায় ধুইয়ে দাও
Aloker ei jhornadharay

Lavish.. cascades.. of sunshine..
free the cover.. of my grime..
with your gentle sunlit.. wand..
wake my heart.. lost in trance..

Clean and dip.. me in the breeze..
limpid.. with a sunlit kiss..
blowing from the universe.
Wash.. my heart.. with your delight.
heal my pallor.. and my plight..

I hold a silent seed.. of song..
it grapples.. with a lack of words..
it aches.. with a silent lull..
Shake.. it up with endless joy..
blowing with an energy..
heartbeats.. of  the universe..

A lustrous sky of young dawn

তরুণ প্রাতের অরুণ আকাশ 
Toruno praater oruno akash

A lustrous sky of young dawn
Eyes sparkling with dew,
The pines near the riverside
Twinkling in the sun --
An image deeply close to my heart
This is how I perceive,
The whole wide world--
Wondrous, wavelike, 
Become one sea of soulfulness.
This is how I know,
I am the lyrics to my poetry
I am the melody to my music
I am the life throbbing in Life,
The sunlight that breaks free
From the depths of dark.

Mother, your love reflects

জননী, তোমার করুণ চরণখানি
Jononi, tomar koruno chorono khani (audio: Kanika Bandyopadhyay)

Mother, your love reflects
In dawn's joyful sunshine.

The sky floods silently
with your voice that
defeating death.

No matter where I am,
or what I do,
my heart softens to you.

With my devotion
my incense burns
I surrender to you
my body, heart and gold.

The music of homecoming

ছুটির বাঁশি বাজল 
Chhutir baanshi bajlo je oi
Audio: Suchitra Mitra

The sky is alive with
The music of homecoming
In gaits of the golden flute.
Why am I alone, I wonder.

Blossoms of Shiuli will soon
Burst out from fetters,
Gardens surge in a spree of buds,
Dewy winds stroke the arbors.
My absent gaze
Ambles away in an open sky,
Tunes lost to me.

Magical hands weave florid yarns
In pathways through the wilderness,
A place where light and shade meet.
Fallen buds of Maaloti steep the grass
With tear-stricken scents,
Waves of Kaash in buoyant whites
Sweep the blue. My absent gaze
Ambles away in open sky
Tracing the melody.

An autumn night on the brink

আমার  রাত পোহালো শারদ প্রাতে
Amar raat pohalo shaarodo praate (audio: Debabrata Biswas)

An autumn night on the brink,
As dawn encroaches
As I ponder
Whom to leave you with, my flute

Your heart exuded songs--
Farewell blues,
Homecoming majesties,
Seasonal vibes of spring, monsoon
Transported tunes of darkness, dawn.

I am riddled as to
How you stole my secret whispers
Each deep echo of my heart,
Melodies that will perish soon
Like ebbing stars of sunrise

So let them die
Our rampant symphony,
Like ephemeral buds of Shiuli

Here is to you companion

ওগো, পথের সাথি, নমি বারম্বার
Pawthero shathi, nomi barombar / Pothero shathi nomi barombar
(audio: Debabrata Biswas)

Companion in my journey,
Here is to you.
Here is to you my farewell,
Here is to you my affliction,
A salute from the safe haven
That gave way to shambles.

Here is to you, radiance of dawn,
Here is to you, breath of life,
Here is to you, guiding energy,
A salute from a seed of hope.

To the one who steers my life,
A charioteer in my endless expedition,
Here is to you for trenchant travels,
A salute of the pathways.

Madness of monsoon in autumn

কোন্ খেপা শ্রাবণ ছুটে এল আশ্বিনেরই আঙিনায়
Kon khyapa srabon chhutey elo

The madness of a monsoon storms
Into the courtyard of autumn
He rushes in locks all astray
Matted into clouds dark and gray
A song of maddened breeze he sings

A thrill runs through the fields
Dancing in delight to the tunes
Of Raag Chhayanaut
The golden rays of autumn sun
Recede in listless languor

What words did he come to whisper
To plentiful fields of paddy
A wail of which intense anguish
Emanates from the new harvest

Restless is the beclouded sky
Spreading its wings like Garuda
A lost wayfarer from the skies
Brings to earth a sense of the road

A relic of time I may be

পুরানো জানিয়া চেয়ো না
Purano janiya cheyona

A relic of time I may be
But please do spare more than
  just a side glance
    a distracted look of indolence

When I come to bequeath myself
Nothing there is wasted and worn
All that is old has been cast off

The waterfall succumbs
In bursting joy of sacrifice
Paying a new homage
In each and every cascade

Ever and on flower myrtle-bowers
To fill the forests with fragrance
Ever and on blossom the buds
To favour anew each moment

In your love I have found
A melody ever so new
In my thoughts in my work
I hear a charming tune

In my giving, there is no dearth
No end however much you take
A twinkle of an eye abounds
With treasures limitless

Who lives in my deepest heart?

কে গো অন্তরতর সে
Ke go ontorotoro she
(audio by Debabrata Biswas)

Who lives in my deepest heart?

Taps my awareness and my hurt?

Waves a magic wand in front of me?

Makes music with my being

joy, woe and ecstasy?

Who spins beauty 

in gold and silver, 

blue and green,

blends with the picture 

sweet,  unseen!

Days pass, decades fly 

the soul quietly steals my sigh.

Every day, a new face and name,

making myriad tides in my life.

Purify.. my life..

(aguner parashmani chhowao prane). 

আগুনের  পরশমণি  ছোঁয়াও প্রাণে।

Purify.. my life..
with the purging touch.. of fire..
Purify my life..
With your blessings of searing pain..
Make it pure.. like the gold..
That passes the test.. of fire..

Take unto you my mortal form..
Make it a lamp.. of your divine abode..
Let the flame.. of my song.. glow through night.. and day..

The slightest of your touch.. on the dark.. frame of night..
Let it spark an untouched star.. one after.. another
To illuminate.. the darkness..

Let my vision.. be cleansed from all darkness..
Whither alights my gaze.. may it see the light..
Let my pain.. be ablaze.. and rise above despair..


****Another attempt (by Anandamayee Majumdar)

Your flaming.. touch, let it blaze.. my heart..
purify.. this life of mine..
clarify.. this life of mine..
simplify.. this life of mine..
glorify.. this life of mine.. atoning as I burn..

Lift my soul.. lift my heart.. a blazing torch of light..
glowing in the sky.. with stars.. that shimmer in the night..
Melody, let it sear, forever, as I burn..

Impel my layers of dark.. let your hands.. alight..

kindling stars.. awake.. evoking them with light..

May darkness disappear..
from all my soul.. and sight..
awaking senses with sanctifying light--
Agony, let it sear, forever, as I burn..

( ****this attempt was made to be able to sing this song in English.)

Who sails across foreign seas

সকরুণ বেণু বাজায়ে কে যায়
Shokoruno benu bajaye ke jay
(audio)

Who sails across foreign seas
A maestro with her teary flute?
From distant shores her mellow tunes
Send ripples across this part of earth
Touching me like ocean-drift.

The winged strains bring with them
Farthest tears of a yearning soul,
Secrets of an unknown plight;
Music that rises from
Seas, sands, furtive winds,
Shadows enfolding, ensconcing woods.

Plunged far away from home I hear
So it seems, in my heart
Autumn's scores sweet and soft
In dew-drenched Bhairavi.

An image rises in the mind's eye
In strokes of lyrical, lighted brush;
Who goes there on the country road,
A maiden she is, with languid steps,
Her footfalls entrance the lonesome path
Her gentle way winds in arbors dark
There she goes, to fill her pot
With water from a village brook.

The deep.. of your infinitude..

তোমার অসীমে প্রাণমন লয়ে
(tomar asima pranaman laye / tomar asime)

When I dive into the deep of Your infinitude..
With all my heart.. and soul..
Sorrow, there is none, nor death, or separation..

Death.. assumes its monstrosity..
Sorrow.. carves its abyss..
When I turn away from You..
And get.. drawn to my wee.. self

O.. replete.. bounteousness!
That which finds refuge.. at Your feet..
It exists never to fade.
Without a trace.. of the fear,
That only lurks.. in my mind..
And so I lament, through night.. and day..

The weight.. of worldly duties..
The torturous.. angst.. within
Dissolve in the blink of an eye..
If your presence I can house..
In my life's abode..

The morning rays strum heartrending notes of farewell

সকালবেলার আলোয় বাজে বিদায়ব্যথার ভৈরবী

Shokalbelar aloy baje biday byathar bhoirobi

The morning rays strum
Heartrending notes of farewell
In melodic Bhairavi.
You too come with your flute,
Soulful muse. Let time preserve your songs
Of an ardent pining breeze.
Allow your music to linger
In dawns chilled with dew,
To hover with Shiuli perfumes.
When it happens
You may have left, but let it be.

Such serene sunrise,
Horizons painted in gold
Beautiful with blossoms of Kunda
Will impress once more.

Once more
A semblance of this image
Will emerge from sweet, sombre shadows
Mellowed with pigeons' prattles,
And lovely green tenderness.
This portrait, reminiscently resonant
With ankle bells of the dancing songs
You left behind

As the autumn sun caresses my dreams

আজি শরততপনে প্রভাতস্বপনে
Aaji shorot topone probhat swapone

As the autumn sun caresses my dreams
I wish I knew what my heart wants
On fragrant boughs of the Shefali tree
What do telltale birds tattle on?

Distracted today is this heart of mine
In a breeze so soft and soothing
Refusing to remain within four walls
In hot pursuit of which fragrance
In hope of sighting which flower
It races to which far beyond

Someone there is amiss today
And so my life, it seems in vain
In askance my heart looks around
“It is not her”, crying aloud
In which land of dreams does she dwell
Her lustrous tresses aflutter
In Eden of which heavenly abode
Maybe she weeps because of me
Seared by pangs of separation

If I do wreathe a song
Sing for whom this lyric?
If I do wreathe some flowers
Give to whom this garland?
If I were to offer my life
At whose feet surrender?
Forever a fear lurks within
In my callous carelessness lest
Aches a heart hurting in private

Dispersed have clouds

আজি মেঘ কেটে গেছে সকালবেলায়
Aaji megh kete gechhe shokal belay

The clouds have dispersed since morning
Come, come now, show your smiling face
Join my play of leisurely laze

Dreams amassed with many a hope
Through many a disappointment
In each heartbreak of youth
I’ll cast them off
On the ebbing river afloat
Towards a shoreless unknown

Unstring our bonds of joy and woe
For just a little while we will
Remain oblivious to our selves

The song that eluded my voice
The gifts that eluded my grasp
All those regrets on eastern breeze
I’ll cast off in careless neglect

The image I had so long meant to come by

যে ছায়ারে ধরব বলে করেছিলেম পণ
Je chhayare dhorbo bole

The image I had so long meant to come by,
In her turn, now embraces my fetters of melody.
Her touch, like the fleeting play of clouds in Autumn
Dissolves into a pure blue sky
Yet now somewhere deep
     I hear her ankle bells chime with my music.
With slow drifts caressing my lazy, sweet hours
Her fragrance would permeate our secret
                              Meetings and farewells.
Today at length I find my own tunes
Resonating with the notes of Autumn
                  In a cadence of Chhayanaut
When she, with her rhythmic dancing jingles
Blends her presence into the soulful symphony.

Luminescence flowers

আলোর অমল কমলখানি 
Alor amolo kamolokhani (audio: Debabrata Biswas)

Luminescence flowers
Like a limpid lotus,
Enlivening a blue sky.
I am charged with
The wonder of it.

In tantamount mystery
My thoughts 
Swarm like honeybees
Setting out
To touch the radiant blossom

I listen to an autumn melody
Vibrate 
In the lotus-pond,
A tuneful Lalit
Weep underneath the Shiuli

A breeze, bewitched
With the same drunkenness
Roves through rice meadows,
Glistening with green luxuriance

A passionate whisper
Hums in the forest.
Riddling me with its sensation

Blossoms of Shiuli

শিউলি ফুল, শিউলি ফুল
Shiuli phul, Shiuli phul (audio)

Blossom of Shiuli,  
My beloved blossom,
What an oversight 
Was this on your part?
Oh, what illusion did the night breeze
Have in mind, to nestle you gently
At the foot of arbor-shades?
Yet ever so often
You die to return at the strike of dawn;
Why do you pine, my unmindful love?
Dew glistens in your eyes.
Is this your way of bidding goodbye,
Is this what your fragrance suggests?
Oh, with you, every passing moment,
Bokul blossoms too, flock to part.

Autumn, your gift of sunshine

শরৎ তোমার অরুণ আলোর অঞ্জলি
Shorot tomar orun alor onjoli (audio)

Autumn, your gift of sunshine
Overflows your hands
Joined in auspicious offering,
Floods creation

Autumn, your tresses 
Wet with dew,
Your veil, brushing trees,
Bewitch the dawn.

Jewels of dew etched in your armlet
Glisten with green

Shadows of the forest speak
In hums, whispers
Flapping scarfs in their sonorous dance

Thrilled enchantment

Descends upon the Shiuli.

All night I had rested

সারা নিশি ছিলেম শুয়ে 
Shara nishi chhilem shuye

All night I had rested
On solitary earth
Next to my beloved wild flowers,
Eagerly listening to the music
Of the stars. But at dawn,
When the stars were lost
I was overwhelmed to find
The same melody overflowing
From the dew, the flowers' tearful faces.

How long have I looked
For this tune in princely chambers,
To have found it at last
On the humble soil of earth!

This melody came to me
As the eloquence of light
Wafting down from the sky
Into the green grass.
This music sparkles like laughter
Twinkling from jewels of dew
Nestled lovingly in the earth.

You hide your form in a sparse garb

একি মায়া, লুকাও কায়া
Eki maya lukao kaya (audio)

Is this a disguise, a delusion?
You hide your form in a garb so sparse
The denuded look of winter
To see you thus I can no more
My soul cannot endure it so

Can you be so aloof?
Miserly in your expression
Amidst your own world

The forests, their lute now silent
Won’t you gift them with your music
A wail rends the heart of azure
Wafting on the autumn breeze

Why do you while your time
On the edges of the desert
You who are treasurer of sweet nectar
Where hidden are your riches of beauty

On your bare branches shorn of leaves
A bird there is to sing no more
An empty assembly
The sound of silence
Our hearts cry out in shame

Do allow me to touch your feet

চরণ ধরিতে
chorono dhorite
(audio)

Do allow me to touch your feet
Do not, please do not, step away
With my life and in death
Through my joys and sorrows
Close to my heart, I will hold them

My burden of desires, I can tether no more
How long do I roam around with this load
Wreathe a garland with your own hands
Do not let me come apart

Ever athirst is desire
Save me by quelling it
May it win it's last triumph
By succumbing to you

The petty trifles of this self
Door to door I can sell no more
Do please, O please do make me yours
Garlanding me with your embrace

- 17th May 1914

Tearful eyes smudged with kohl

হেরিয়া শ্যামল ঘন নীল গগনে
Heriya shyamol ghono neel gogone

A darkness in the deep azure
Calls to mind the tearful eyes smudged with kohl

Lips smeared with a deep compassion
Outlined in such an earnest plea
A silent gaze in the hour of parting

The rain pours down, lashes lightning
The wind races through woods in crazed song

Making way through a shooting pain
Thoughts of whom stir within my heart

Dense, opaque, overcast are skies

গহন ঘন ছাইল
Gohon ghono chhailo

Dense, opaque, overcast are skies
Woods stupefied into stillness
A quiet hush in all directions
All of creation in suspense -
   Who knows what will happen
Descends a deep darkness of night
Guardian angels shudder in fear

In sudden flashes now and then
Startles lightning racing about
Lighting up but for a moment
Sink the tremulous earth and skies
Into a pitch-dark inkiness

The rumbling of clouds cannot wake
Silent darkness from its stupor
Asudden is aroused the breeze
In a roaring crack of thunder

You have no qualms in letting me forget

আমায় ভুলতে দিতে নাইকো
Amay bhulte dite naiko tomar bhoy
(audio link)

You are not afraid to let me hover
To amble with an absent heart;
Since there is always an end to my drift,
But your love knows no bars.

Even if I may feel distant from you,
For you, no distance is that remote.
Even if my heart may stay furrowed,
Does that mean spring is not in bloom?

It is a game we play, often enough,
As you contentedly lose to me,
Yet win in your own sweet way
Through the glory of a chosen defeat.



(another version by Anandamayee Majumdar:)

You are not afraid to let me hover
To amble with an absent heart;
Since there is always an end to my drift,
But your love knows no bars.

Even if I may feel distant from you, 
For you, no distance is that remote.
Though my heart folds up
Does that mean Spring is not here
At your call?

It is a game we play, often enough,
You contentedly losing to me,
Yet winning in your own sweet way,
Through the glory of a chosen defeat.

I know not of austere penance

জানি নাই গো সাধন
Jani nai go shadhon

I know not of austere penance
Endeavoured in your name
Merely do I play in the dust
Seated beside your door

Ignorant I was, so with ease
I sought you however I pleased
I feared you not in the darkness

Your sagacious disciples rebuke me
 “Go back! You haven’t come the proper way”

You hold me back in your embrace
Cutting off the means of return
In vain they call time and again

A bouquet of smiles she held in her hands

তার হাতে ছিল হাসির ফুলের হার
Tar haatey chhilo hashir phuler haar

A bouquet of smiles she held in her hands
Of many a hue and colour
I was weighed down by the fruit of sorrow
Nurtured and ripened with my tears

Asudden she came the fair one
And said to me “Let us exchange”
I gazed at her visage
O so captivating!

She took my spread of sombre clouds
Glanced at me with an amused look
I took her flowers of verdant spring
And held it to my bosom

“I have won”, she said with a smile
As she hastened on far away

In the hour of dusky twilight
At the end of the scorching day
Faded had all the flowers she gave

Whom have you left behind

তুই ফেলে এসেছিস কারে
Tui phele eshechhish kaarey (audio)

Whom have you left behind?
My heart! O heart of mine
Passes by a lifetime
Yet peace you do not find
My heart! O heart of mine

The path you took to veer away
You have now forgotten its way
How will you return to her door?
My heart! O heart of mine

I lend my ear to the flow of rivers
A rustle of leaves has me all astir

My heart says I will find the way
If I can know what flowers say
The trail that seeks the evening star
And then goes on further beyond
My heart! O heart of mine