How far is it, the abode of joy

আর কত দূরে আছে সে আনন্দধাম
aaro koto doorey aachhey

How far is it, the abode of joy
I am weary
I am blinded
I do not know the way

The sun dips below the horizon
Darkness enshrouds the earth
Have mercy on this helpless one
O mother of this universe

I drift from one road to the other
Driven by unfulfilled desire
In vain is this game
In vain is this show
In vain does time pass by

Today in this eventide breeze
Do lead me to the abode of peace
Bestow upon me everlasting peace
With the soothing caress of your love

You’ve given so much O Lord

অনেক দিয়েছ নাথ
Awnek diyechho naath

You’ve given so much
O Lord you’ve given so much
And yet is my desire not fulfilled
My penury not dispelled
My tears not effaced
My deepest thirst not slaked

You’ve given me life and consciousness
My heart’s treasure - my family and friends
The soothing caress of the breeze
The blue canopy of the skies
The verdant beauty of the earth

If so much have you given
You have to give some more
If you I do not get
I will not go back

I am so impoverished

আমি দীন, অতি দীন
aami deen oti deen

I am so impoverished
How do I repay Lord
The debt of your kindness

Your affection in endless streams
Deluges this world
It showers night and day
Soothing my scorched heart

I will surrender all of my heart
I will give you back your own love
I will live to do what you ask of me
I offer my life at your feet

You brought me to tears

কাঁদালে তুমি মোরে ভালোবাসারই ঘায়ে
kandale tumi more bhalobashari ghaye
(audio)

You brought me to tears
The torment of your love
A deep sweet agony
Tingles down my body

I will walk to distant shores
For a tryst with you, my love
Let pain prick at my feet
As I walk the endless roads

My heart wails like a flute
My eyes stream with tears
This sweet melancholy
Leaves me bewildered

You plunder my all
And yet keep me bound
I cannot tear my heart away
Such is my quandary

O my ever unknown stranger

ওগো আমার চির-অচেনা পরদেশী
ogo amar chiro awchena pawrodeshi

O my ever unknown stranger
To which summons did you come
Out for a moment from your solitary arbour

I didn’t fathom what you said
But it’s strain lingers on
Like the melody of a flute

I sat alone in the morn
And wreathed a garland
It lay on the ground
Beneath the Ashok trees
When I came back at the end of day
I could not find it anymore
Even you had by then gone away
The hours went by
I could not sight you again

Do stay a little longer

আরো একটু বসো তুমি
aaro ektu bosho tumi

Do stay a little longer
Do tell a little more

O traveller
Why this restlessness
A moistness in your eyes

Did you get a hint of what you wished to hear from me
The silent swell of words billowing in my heart

When you are far away
The secrets deep within
Resonate in sweet melody
When you come close
Your eyes hush all words
They shine like the stars
In the still night of my heart

A few more minutes, do sit by me

আরো কিছুখন নাহয় বসিয়ো পাশে
aaro kichhukhon nahoy boshiyo paashey

A few more minutes, do sit by me
A few more words, do speak to me

See how the autumn sky darkens
Vaporous airs mist the horizon

You came to my door in the morn
Wanting to see something
Let me ask while there is still light
Were you able to catch a glimpse of that
O traveller, say do say –
That which rolls to and fro
In the fathomless depths of my heart

You wavered at the door
Held yourself back today
You tinkered with your tunes
Out in the courtyard
I know not what you can take
Take back with you to the distant lands
O traveller, at this hour of parting ways

When you came at the break of dawn
Leaving behind all your chores
The soulful voice you came to hear
Did you catch a hint of it
O traveller, say do say –
Those words they are ablaze
In the secret depths of my heart

My heart is athirst

চিত্ত পিপাসিত রে গীতাসুধার তরে
chitto pipashito re
(audio)

My heart is athirst
For the sweetness of a song

Like a withered vine
That thirsts for a drop of rain
My heart sprawls in the dust
Aggrieved and athirst
For the sweetness of a song

Today on a spring night
Today with an eternal thirst
Today my wakeful heart
Is like a bird that gazes at the moon
Yearning to soak in the light
Athirst for the sweetness of a song

The wakeful moon
In a sky bereft of sleep
Watches the quiescent world
My body and soul cry out
In a listless tone
Athirst for the sweetness of a song

One to whom you give your flag

তোমার পতাকা যারে দাও
tomar potaka jaare dao

One to whom you give your flag
Give her the strength to bear it
To suffer great sorrows in your service
Give her the faith to bear it

I wish with all my heart
To end sorrow with sorrow
I do not wish to evade
The pain that you bestow
Woe will be a laurel for me
If you grant with it my faith

Give me work if you so wish
As long as you let me
Forget you not
Let me not get entangled
In a web of wanton waste

Ensnare me in as many bonds
Keep me free to be with you
Keep me in the dust if you so wish
Make me pure with the dust of your feet
Be that I get lost in worldly affairs
Let me not forget and lose you
I’ll take any road you choose for me
Allow me to reach your feet
Let all my effort take me
To the one who ends all fatigue

An uphill road is this world
Many a sacrifice, many a woe,
Many a pang of separation
Bearing many a death through this life
May I get a new life in death
Let me find at eventide
A refuge at your feet

If you rescue me O Lord

যদি আমায় তুমি বাঁচাও
jodi amay tumi banchao

If you rescue me O Lord
Then blessed will be your world
If you wash off with your purity
The grime and soot in my heart
Arouse will anew your sun and moon
In a grand festival of light
My blooms have yet to flower
That very sadness fills the world
If dispelled is the darkness of night
And awakened is my heart
Then radiant will be the sky
With the ring of joyous melody

Lash at me yet more

আরো আরো প্রভু, আরো আরো
Aaro aaro probhu aaro aaro

Yet more O Lord, yet more
Lash at me yet more
I hide and try to flee
Now that I am caught
How do I evade thee?

Take away, do take away
All that I have
Do what you want to do
Let your will takes its course
Be it that I lose or you

I mill about here and there
Hours lost in fun and banter
Let me see how you can make me weep

You come in the garb of woe

দুখের বেশে এসেছ ব'লে
Dukkher beshe eshechho bole

I will fear you not
Though you appear in the garb of woe
I will hold you close where it hurts

If you veil your face in darkness
I will know you still
If you come in the garb of death
I will die clasping your feet

Whatever be the form
In which you show yourself
I will fear you not

My eyes are awash in tears today
The tears let them overflow
My heart rings out with pain
In your fierce embrace

It is you who grips my heart
Let my pain tell me so
I will not wish for anything
I will not say anything
I will merely gaze at you

Be simple, be natural

সহজ হবি, সহজ হবি
Shohoj hobi

Be simple, be natural
O my heart, be simple
Keep your distance from
  that which adds distance
    to what was near
Why stretch out your palms
It is not the gift we need
It is the giver we seek
When you give with ease
You acquire too with ease
Be simple, be natural
O my heart, be simple
Emerge O poet from the task
Of composing your own words
Away from all words, beats the heart of the world
Where the morning sun gazes at the silent flower

Flame of fire, we are akin

ওরে, আগুন আমার ভাই
Ore agun amar bhai (audio: Suchitra Mitra)

Flame of fire -- we are akin,
I exalt you with a song
Nothing is as free, as flushed, to me
As your fiery form

Your raise your ecstatic arms
In a divine, happy dance
And when I die and my fetters bust
You will singe my bonds

Your body and mine will sway in glee
Your flare will burn my impetuosity
And as every twinge is turned to ash
My woes will vanish with your raging flash.

How does one suffer this estrangement

এ পরবাসে রবে কে হায়!

E porobashe robe ke haay (audio: Kanika Bandyopadhyay)

How does one suffer this estrangement

Like a nomad at large

The conflict of heart and body

Left in quandary?

In these alien latitudes
I have no one, no home or harbor.

Exposed alone
To my ache, vulnerability

(Another version by Rumela)

Who can stay in this alien land
Who can cope with doubt and despair
Who will hold me in grief and fear
Who will carry me through crisis
No such one I can call my own
In this vast wilderness

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'

If there is no swansong

শেষ নাহি যে, শেষ কথা কে বলবে?
Shesh nahi je shesh kotha ke bolbe (audio: Kanika Bandyopadhyay)

If there is no swansong
What would our last whisper be?

The scourge that sparks the fire,
The cloud that dissolves in rain
The snow that melts into spring
Has no consummation

End is a mirage --
A dark door
That always opens
To let in light

The heart of antiquity
Cracks open to birth a new beginning

Life blossoms, ebbs,
And death gleans the harvest

We shall overcome

হবে জয়, হবে জয়

Hobe joy, hobe joy (audio: Pankaj Mullick)

We shall overcome,
We shall overcome.
Courageous Warrior.

Triumphant is the heart.
Triumphant is the song.

Love can shine.
Good can shine.
Triumphant is the light.
Courageous Warrior.

The dark will melt,
melt away.
Courageous Warrior.

Rise up, shine now.
Do not give in.
Let sunshine fill the mind.
Make it shine, make it shine.
Courageous warrior.

Long.. live.. every spirited.. song..

জয় তব বিচিত্র আনন্দ
(jay taba bichitra ananda)

Long.. live.. every spirited.. song..
Poet, long.. live.. your gift.. of compassion..
Long live the formidable..
all the demolition.. of wrong..

Long live the elixir..
The death, the suffering,
long live your gift.. of solace..

Long live your gift.. of luminosity
the appalling, dark, dense nights..
Long.. live.. your gift.. of love, of unity..
Long.. live.. your insufferable.. ache, of separation..

When you celebrate your love

এত আলো জ্বালিয়েছ এই গগনে
Eto alo jaliyechho ki utsober logone (audio: Dwijen Mukhopadhyay)

When you celebrate your love
the sky lights up in joy
it reflects all on me
keeps you unseen.

When I celebrate my love
my heart lights up in joy
it reflects all on you
keeps me unseen.

Your words vanished in the dust

 লিখন তোমার ধুলায় হয়েছে ধূলি
Likhon tomar dhulay hoyechhe dhuli (audio: Shantidev Ghosh)

Your words vanished in the dust
And bit by bit
I lost trace of the script.

Lonely, on a late spring afternoon
I think I catch a cue of your calligraphy
Emerging
In fledgling, sprouting Nature.

The Mallika unfolds it's prolific fragrance
Reminiscent of you.

Memories of your soft hands
Recreate whispers
Of our aching farewell.

Your past phrases
Find roseate eloquence
In soundless shivers of the Madhobi creeper.

A bud waned in the deepest dark

কী ফুল ঝরিল বিপুল অন্ধকারে 
Kee phul jhorilo bipul ondhokare (audio: Suchitra Mitra)

A bud waned in the dark.
Her fragrance
Like an unfinished cue
Penetrated my slumber

She had arrived at night
Like a lonely bird
As an offering for sunrise

Frail,
She had ventured a prayer beyond herself
Her beauty unrevealed, nameless;
Leaving on the endless path
Of  irretrievable stars

I wonder what she had to say
With her sublime silence
I wonder, what brought her
To the obscure enclave of night.

Stay back if you like a prison

যে থাকে   থাক-না দ্বারে,  যে-যাবি  যা-না পারে
Je thake thak na daare, je jabi ja-na pare (audio: Suchitra Mitra)

Stay back if you like a prison.
Those who seek light, can fly.

If the bird wakes you up at sunrise
walk down the road less taken.

The green bud likes to engage
with dew in the dark.

A full blossom longs for light
The night blinds her cry.

The flower.. murmers..

 ফুল বলে, ধন্য আমি
(phul bale.. dhanya ami)

The flower.. murmurs..

I am.. blessed I was born on the earth.. 

god.. in this humble home.. I pray to you..

Help me forget..

I was birthed.. on the dust..

My heart.. is not soiled..

Lean down.. from heaven..take a look..

see.. my blossoms.. thrill.. and throb..

Lend.. me your smallest.. touch..

Bless.. this darling of the dust,

A salute.. to you.. from mother.. earth..

What a tremendous wave..

বিপুল তরঙ্গ রে
(bipul taranga re)

What a tremendous wave..
what a tremendous wave..

Turning the sky.. tossing.. old.. and new..
bright with sunshine, thrilled with life.
what a joyous wave..

So the sun.. moon.. and stars.. spin..
Wakefulness flows.. swings..
The world dances.. with feeling..
My heart.. sings.. like a bird..

I awake to a sudden, sweet entrapment,

নয়ন মেলে দেখি আমায় বাঁধন বেঁধেছে
Noyon mele dekhi amay bandhon bendhechhe

I awake to a sudden, sweet entrapment,
An enigmatic snare of love.

It was in the wake of spring,
When I wished my friend
A nonchalant goodbye.

But she cracked wide open
With tears, unawares,
And so it happens, did I.

We tumbled out at dawn

আজ প্রথম ফুলের পাব প্রসাদখানি

Aj prothom phuler pabo proshadkhani (audio: Debabrata Biswas)

We tumbled out at dawn

To watch raw buds 

Crack open to the sun,

To catch up with the voice of light.

Now that radiance 

Performed it's miracle,

We sing and daub ourselves

In savory sunshine

Nature invites us

Under thickets of Parul,

Shady branches of Magnolia. 

The deepest blue sky 

Expands in us,
Echos music within,

Releasing all our fetters

Radiance sings to my heart

আলো যে আজ গান করে মোর প্রাণে
Alo je aj gaan kore mor praane go (audio)

Radiance sings to my heart.
Who is it visiting my courtyard?

The sky makes my heart unclench,
the wind wins me over with joy.

The horizon casts a blue eye.
Flowers unfold in my limbs.

My fragrant soul wanders away.
Who does she  seek forever?

I planted illusive dreams

আমি  কেবলই স্বপন করেছি বপন বাতাসে
Ami keboli shwopono korechi bopono (audio: Kanika Bandyopadhyay)

I planted illusive dreams
Wielding castles in the air,
Harvesting dashed hopes

My world, a relic,
My hopes, unnavigated,
The deity of my dreams
A fantastic, float-some image

Nothing actualized
From my deluge of desire,
Couldn't cast a soul
With my far aspirations.

In my solitude
I have been playing with flames,
Left with cinders, in the end

I lose sight of my deepest intention

তোমার দ্বারে কেন আসি ভুলেই যে যাই
Tomar dwaare keno ashi (audio: Debabrata Biswas)

I lose sight of my deepest intention

Of coming to you

I beg, beseech for trifles

Shrinking in shame
When it ends

Yet all I voice

Are my passing vibes

None of the cravings

Buried within

Meaningless wants

Fetter my raw bud, my dream,

Needs that will crumble one day,

Wither, give way,
As spring brushes in

One day,
A lone desire will emerge

A desire, streaming through life
To meet it's culmination,

Cracking open to the sun

Like a radiant bloom