I will bewitch you not with beauty

আমি রূপে তোমায় ভোলাব না

ami roopey tomaay bholabo na

I will bewitch you not with beauty
I will charm you with my love
I will come not to the door
Have it open with my song

Bedeck you not with ornaments
Adorn you not with flower garlands
I will wreath my love together
And have it sway on your bosom

Know will none in which tempest
Billow will waves in my breast
Like the pull of moon, unseen
Creates ripples in high tide

With you my love I play the game of life

আহা তোমার সঙ্গে প্রাণের খেলা
aha tomar shonge praaner khela (audio)

With you my love, I play the game of life
In such eager excitement today
Will my heart agree to lose this game
Can only you in such a way
Set me aflame and run away
Do willingly be lured my Lord
Bedeck your heart in my colours
Brush from my heart-flower
Crimson dust upon your raiment

Awaiting am I with all that is mine

আমার সকল নিয়ে বসে আছি

amar shokol niye boshe aachhi
(audio - Bikram Singh)

I await with all I have
In hope of losing it all
I gaze out at the road
For the one who will
Sweep me onto the road

The one unseen but all-seeing
Who showers love covertly
My heart is enraptured
By that secret love deep within

(Another version by Anandamayee Majumdar)

Waiting for my danger
To rip open my heart,
An enigma
To pitch me on my path

It's the muse I can not glimpse
The vibrant, furtive love
Which watches me, unseen

I am beset
With the undertow
Of its deepest presence

This day of Sravan you arrive

আজি শ্রাবণ-ঘন-গহন-মোহে
aji Sraabon ghono gohon mohe
(Tagore's own translation)

This day of Sravan*, you arrive,
In deep, dense clouds,
Your footsteps, clandestine,
Silent, like the night --
Unseen to all.
The morning has dimmed,
The winds call out in vain,
Clouds, impermeable,
Veil a blue, lucid sky.
Birds speechless in the woods,
All doors shut
Who are you, solo traveler --
Walking this lonely path,
Lone friend, my love,
Open is my door,
Mindless, do not pass me by
Like a reverie.

*Sravan is the second month of the rainy season in Bengal, the fourth month of the Bengali calendar

Dweller away from home

পরবাসী, চলে এসো ঘরে

pawrobashi choley esho ghawrey 

Dweller away from home
Do come back to your home
Set sail on propitious winds.

Behold the boat goes to and fro
Many a time across the seas
Skies resound with the boatman’s song

Arrangements in azure
Welcome song in the breeze
Respond did not your heart
Homeless are you therefore
Exiled in façade and within

If you shall not fill me with love

(jadi prem dile na prane)

যদি প্রেম দিলে না প্রাণে

If you shall not fill me with love
why load the sky of dawn, with many songs?.
Why sweat to wreathe the stars,
Why care to set the buds,
Why does the spring wind whisper sweetness to my ears?.
If you shall not fill me with love

why does the sky gaze at me with such a gaze?
why does my heart often wander
Why does it seek out unknown shores?.

When.. my footsteps.. fall.. on this road.. no more..

যখন পড়বে না মোর পায়ের চিহ্ন
(jakhan parbe na mor)

When.. my footsteps.. fall.. on this road.. no more..
I will ferry.. not.. my boat.. on this pier..
I will end.. this buy.. and sell..
I will settle.. all my dues..
I won't to.. and fro to this mart..
So be.. it if you recall.. me.. or not
So be.. it if gazing.. up at the stars, you call me or not..

When dust.. accumulates..
On the strings.. of the Tanpura..
When barbed.. fences.. of vines..
Creep.. up doorways of home..
When the flower.. garden adorns
Ascetic.. robes.. of dense green grass..
When moss.. surrounds the pond..
So be.. it if you recall me or not..
So be.. it if gazing.. up at the stars, you call me or not..

Then will the flute.. still sing.. thus in this play..
Days will pass, day after.. day..
Just the way.. it does today..
Ferryboats.. will fill up that day..
Piers full.. in the very same way..
In that field, cows.. will graze, cowherds.. will play..
So be.. it if you recall me or not..
So be.. it if gazing.. up at the stars, you call me or not..

Who says then, I am.. no more.. in that morn..
In all play, this self will play..
With a new.. name..
In a new.. embrace..
Come and go.. I will,
This self that is eternal..
So be it if you recall me or not..
So be.. it if gazing.. up at the stars, you call me or not..

Rejoice in the show of color

চাহিয়া দেখো রসের স্রোতে

chahiya dekho rosher srote (audio link)

Rejoice in the show of color
   submerged in streaming vibes,
     gifts that are useless
       when you pine to possess them.

Things you seek to enmesh, keep
 are habitually lost in darkness.
     This is music for the heart
                     made of poetic, tuneful substance.

        This is celestial food
        That can not be touched nor scaled.

         Taste this divinity
            From rippling rivers, efflorescent forests,
            and miraculous smiles
            that well up in loving eyes,
            and realize how free they are.
           

Let my heart sway

আমার হৃদয় তোমার আপন হাতের দোলে দোলাও

amar hridoy tomar apon haater doley 
(audio)
  

Let my heart sway
Cradled in your own arms
Let it sway, let it sway
Who they are, what they say
Erase them from my thoughts
Let it fade, let it fade

They keep me forever
In a web of words bound
Unleash my bondages
With your flute's lilting sound

Remember when I was
Many a night, many a day
Your mate in joyful play
Hold me close in the same way
Let billowing waves of that play
Engulf my life today

- Autumn 1921

Amidst dense darkness of words unspoken

আমার  না-বলা বাণীর ঘন যামিনীর মাঝে

amar na bola baanir ghono jaminir majhe 
(audio)

Amidst the dense darkness
Of words unspoken
My thoughts of you shine like stars.

Around the shadowy forests
In the seclusion of my heart
Floats the fragrance of flowers unseen
My feelings hide in unwept tears
A flute unheard, plays deep within.

Now and then unknowing
I make a gift of my song
My life I adorn with flowers
In course of play
Knowing not when you might choose one

In the dimness of light
You open the door in silence
And breathe new life into my work

- 19th Jan 1928

Endless, you have made me

আমারে তুমি অশেষ করেছ

amare tumi oshesh korechho 
(audio)

Endless, you have made me
Such is your divine play
Emptying, you fill me
Again with life anew.

You roamed around many a hill and dale
With this slight flute of yours
You played on it many a melody
Over and over in your wanderings

Caressed by your touch
My heart knows no bounds
My words spill over in exaltation

My fist remains ever full of
what you bestow night and day
Aeons pass as you give
and I keep on partaking

(Rabindranath's own translation in The Gitanjali)

Thou hast made me endless, such is thy pleasure.
This frail vessel thou emptiest again and again,
and fillest it ever with fresh life.

This little flute of a reed thou hast carried over hills and dales,
and hast breathed through it melodies eternally new.

At the immortal touch of thy hands my little heart loses its limits in joy
and gives birth to utterance ineffable.

Thy infinite gifts come to me only on these very small hands of mine.
Ages pass, and still thou pourest, and still there is room to fill.

You lay concealed in my heart

আমার হিয়ার মাঝে লুকিয়ে ছিলে

amar hiyar majhey lukiye chhiley
(audio)

You lay concealed in my heart
I did not see you my love
I did not see you
I gazed outside and beyond
I did not peer deep within

In all my love, in every hurt, in each new hope
You were there beside me
While I never did go to you

You lived as the joy in my play
I remained thus in joyous bliss
Heedless of the passage of time

I remain curled within myself
With my songs of sadness and joy
The songs you set to tune yourself
But I did not sing your song, my love
I did not sing your song

- 8th April 1914

I live here just to sing your song

আমি হেথায় থাকি শুধু গাইতে তোমার গান

ami hethay thaki shudhu gaitey tomar gaan
(Tagore's own translation)

I live here just to sing Your song
In the assembly of Your world
Do confer on me that slight space

Amidst Your creation,
I have served no purpose
It only tunes to melody
This useless life of mine

At night, when it’s time for worship
In Your divine quiet abode
Then O Lord, command me to sing

At dawn, when across the azure
The Veena reverberates with
A melody of gorgeous gold
Let me not be afar
I ask of You just that honour

Your veena in my mind

তোমার বীণা আমার মনোমাঝে

tomar beena amar mono majhey
(audio)

Your Veena plays deep in my heart
At times I hear, at times I miss
At times I hear it not

When the skies quivering with songs
Whisper secrets into the earth
Amidst that, in sudden tumult
Dance within, boundless dreams galore

In your assembly, O Teacher*
This ardent heart, in excitement
Plays out notes discordant.

When I stroll in Your lotus-garden
Restless gusts of breeze
Distract me from my way

Awakens Your tune in the nights of spring
In accord with the crimson dust
Rouging the branches of Ashok*
Afloat that tune, I wish to drift
On swift wings of the buzzing bee
My mind oblivious of itself

Why in veils, does mist enfold me
Why is light defiled by darkness
I cower in embarrassment.

Another version by Subrata Majumdar

Deep within my heart you play your Veena;
I hear, but miss sometimes, and hear no more!
When your music stirs the sky around
And makes it whisper in the ears of the earth
The secrets of its heart,
Dreams unbound gather in heaps.
All of a sudden, in my mind
And dance with discordant rapture.
Oh, supreme Player of Veena*,
My yearning heart joins Your concert
With mad unmelodious tunes.

I vow to tread Your lotus-garden
But fail for distracting winds.
Your music fills the evening air of Phalgoon**
And imparts reddish tinge
To pollens in Ashok*** branches.
I race for the music in deep absorption
With swift humming wings of bees.
But mists cast veils,
And make light cloudy dim.
My eyes fail, deeply ashamed.

*The original Bengali word  Beenapani stands for Saraswati - the Goddess of Learning, Music and Arts. The veena is a musical instrument that represents her perfection of all arts and sciences. 

**Phalgoon, the first month of spring in Bengal

***Ashok, a tree common to Bengal, with crimson flowers in spring

Everyone offers Him all they have.

সবাই যারে সব দিতেছে

shobai jare shob ditechhe

Everyone offers Him all they have.
So shall I, without being asked.

I came forward with the crowd to take.
Now I will boldly offer my gift.

Dawn received a pot of gold
and danced all the way away
Twilight paid back
with beauty and humility.

The joy of the flower turned around
faded and made fruition.
Its time to give all we have
while there is still some time left.

Why call me in vain

কেন তোমরা আমায় ডাকো

keno tomra amay daako

Why call me in vain
Unyielding is my heart
I do not find time
With songs so many

They seek directions from me
Do I even spot the way?
I know not which path I take
With songs so many

You are unsparing
in your fault-finding
I do not pay attention
My mind floats away
With songs so many

Today is for the buds to blossom
A riot of colours in the skies
Each direction beckons me
With songs so many

Those who use words to speak Your word

যারা কথা দিয়ে তোমার কথা বলে

jara kawtha diye tomar kawtha bawley

Those who use words to say Your word
They build fences of words, row after row

They comprehend not each other
The more they try to clarify,
The more it grows, deadweight of words

Those who merely play the tune
Keeping aside all words
In their music, harmonised are all
From the farthest to the near

Those who do not judge - Who knows, who knows not
At your feet finds a place their deepest heartache

Every harm every loss

ক্ষত যত ক্ষতি যত

khoto joto khoti joto (audio)

Every harm every loss
will decay
momentary thistles
falling away.

Empty dreams, empty gifts
unreturned many claims
turn into tall stories
falling away.

Look up at this wonder
with your eyes,
morning sun in the golden sky.

This is the sheer gift
gives me every meaning
joy is in this picture.

(Another version by Rumela Sengupta:)

Wounds all, losses all, are but falsehoods
Fleeting pricks of grass blades that stay beneath

What was not, what you got not,
Who still owes you a debt
All like a mirage will fade away

This that you behold, picturesque beauty
Dawn’s sun in crimson horizon
This is the greatest gift
Fulfilled is life
Arises the joyous grace of Truth

Won’t you be able to join this rhythm

পারবি না কি যোগ দিতে

paarbina ki jog ditey ei chhondey re
(Tagore's own translation)

Won’t you be able to join this rhythm
To wither and float away
In joy of demolition.

Straining your ear, do you not hear
In all directions, amidst the azure
What refrain plays on the Veena of death
Resonating in sun, moon and stars
To chase, rush and set afire
In joy of conflagration

Driven wild by melody of song
Who knows to rush where, to chase what
Glances not, to look back
Remains not bound in chains
To be looted, to be lost
In joy of progression

In joy of those footsteps
Seasons dance in ecstasy
Deluged is earth
With welcome song and scent
To give up and let go
In joy of destruction

I can not fathom your end

মধুর, তোমার শেষ যে না পাই

modhuro tomar shesh je na pai
(Audio: Arundhati Holme Chowdhury)

I cannot fathom your end
my love, as I stand in awe
of this dream sunset.
.
.
From my twilight-corner
the last gold melts into the sky,
my heart drifts away
with a wayward song.
.
.
Borne by the breeze
the fragrance
of a drowsy dusk flower
fills my senses
with a bodiless embrace.
.
.
An endless melody whispers,
floats in from the forests
with the dreamy nightfall
approaching
from the farthest limits
of a resplendent, green earth.

The one you ease with love

তোমার প্রেমে ধন্য করো যারে

tomar preme dhonno koro jare (audio)

The one you ease with love
have truly seen themselves.

Pain, loss and slander
do not trouble them.
They bear the daily grind.

Their feet finds a home
On open roads and sleep
with many trying tasks.

They feel safe with you
and so can not be stopped.
They see beyond the dark.

(another version by Rumela)

One you bless with your love
She finds herself truly

Her soul does not sink with fatigue
Broken is not her will
With the day to day loads of life

Known is the tune she hears
Amidst her wayfaring

In the toughest of tasks
She finds joyful leisure

It is in you
That she sees her own self
Breaking all bondages
Her life flows unbridled
Far she can gaze
Beyond the dark ocean

- 15th Jan 1928

Thus if the day goes by let it go by

এমনি ক'রেই যায় যদি দিন যাক না

emni korei jay jodi din jaakna

Thus if the day goes by, let it go by
Mind aflutter, let it fly on,
Unfurling feather wings of song

Today my fountain of life frolics to music
Dams of this body are shattered.
Above my head has opened up
Azure canopy of the skies

Earth today, has spread out it’s heart
Those words, they are, of which someone
Firm earth stops not the mind today
From practice of which melody
The world tells, tales of my own heart
If work piles up today, let it pile up.

Light of mine O Light

আলো আমার, আলো ওগো, আলো ভুবন-ভরা

aalo aamaar aalo ogo

Light of mine, O Light, lighting up the world
Light flooding my eyes, light seizing my heart
Dances light, it dances, my friend, in my life breath
Plays light, it plays, my friend, playing on my heart strings
Awakens sky, gallops the wind, laughs all of earth.

In streams of light, have raised their sail
thousands of butterflies
In waves of light, have danced in thrill
Mallika Malati*

Clouds golden, gold in clouds, countless are jewels
Leaves laughing, laugh in leaves, endless are delights

Mallika Malati*: flowers

All it is I want to take

আমি সব নিতে চাই, সব নিতে ধাই রে

aami shob nitey chai

All it is I want to take, all it is I want to chase
Spread myself will I, my friend, out in the open
Wind is in my sail, sail into the seas will I
No more is the boat moored, no more.

In joy in woe amidst my heart,
Wayfaring flute plays on and on
In all work, it is that I hear.

Mad frenzy in the wings,
Will birds rest on branches
Excitement echoes in all directions

What I have not

কী পাই নি তারি হিসাব মিলাতে

ki paai ni taar hishaab melatey (audio)

What I have, what I have not
My mind shies from taking stock
Today the flute has rung out
In all corners of my heart
In dark shades and in the light

Loved this earth have I
That is what I most recall
In many springs, southern winds
This basket of mine been filled

Tears reside in remote depths
In the deep tiers of my heart
Essence of ache in secret
Brings effort to fruition

Now and then did the strings snap
Why raise a hue and cry for that
Yet melody touched the right chords,
That is what I most recall
Time and again




Another version by Anandamayee Majumdar:

I will not ponder my pain
Of what I have failed to receive.
All I know is, a flute lilts in my heart
Meshed with light and shadows.

My love for this earth

Sweetens, seeps into all my memories.
I remember the springs, the southern drifts
That have fulled, freshened my bouquet.

My tears flow on
Through subterranean depths of my core,
The juice of agony nourishes
My sacred service in life.

Often enough

The strings of my lute have shattered, 
But why would I regret the rupture?
I have tuned them once more,
I have made the melodies soar,
These are my treasured triumphs
That culminate, and linger on.

Today in drizzling rains

আজি ঝরো ঝরো মুখর বাদরদিনে

aaji jhawro jhawro mukhawro badoro diney

Today, in drizzling rains and rumblings of a cloudy day
Know not I, know not why, why on nothing does the mind stay
With restless water laden winds, towards wandering clouds
Speeds this mind, yearns this mind, longing to know paths of a flight of geese
Time throbs to Raag Megh Malhar all day long
Tinkles the song of the cascading falls.
Today is the hour for the heart to lose itself,
To play a game of hide-n-seek with the pathways
Yearns this mind for the heart to be, to whom forever indebted

Come, come, come O Boishakh

এসো, এসো, এসো হে বৈশাখ

esho esho esho hey boishakh

Come, come, come O Boishakh come upon us.
With your ascetic breath, dust away that which is dying
Be gone the refuses and remnants of the year

Let go old memories, let go forgotten melodies
Let teardrops vaporize and fade into the distant skies.

Wipe away weariness, eradicate infirmity
Bathed in fire, may the earth gain purity

Come and blow dry the bogs of confused emotion
Bring forth, bring forth and sound your conch of destruction
Be gone, be gone the misty webs of illusion.

Spring to airy breezes bestowed have I

ফাগুন, হাওয়ায় হাওয়ায় করেছি যে দান

phagun haowaay haowaay (audio link)

Spring, to airy breezes bestowed have I
To your airy breezes bestowed have I
my life, losing sense of self,
my life, breaking free of bonds.

With your Ashoka and Kinshuk flowers
Unseen colours brush my inexplicable happiness
With each sway of your salt cedars
Murmur and rustle the songs of my sorrowful nights.

An evening lit by full moon, scented by tuberose
Wanders this distracted mind gazing beyond sea shores.

Smeared with multi-coloured dreams
in my eyes enamoured by the skies,
are the wings of your butterfly.
In your glowing moonlight
Mingle and fade away all my woes and happiness.



(another version by Anandamayee Majumdar)


I dedicate my heaving heart to the breeze
I offer myself to your winds, dear Spring
I let my pride-less self, my untethered soul, blow in the wind.

Your Ashok and Kinshuk
Flare the colors of my gratuitous delight.
Your waving salt cedars echo with the whispers
Of my aching night.

Tube-roses in a full-moon twilight
Elevate my heart across the sea of images, impressions.
Your butterfly wings
Paint my enraptured sky-gazing eyes with dreaminess.
Your moonbeams
Relieve me from all vibes of grief and gladness.

O dweller at home open the doors

ওরে গৃহবাসী খোল্‌ দ্বার খোল্

orey grihobashi khol dwar khol

O dweller at home, open the doors, there’s a swing in the air
Earth water woods swaying are they to the spring in the air
Open up, Open up the doors.

Bunches bursting with blushing smiles
Of Ashok and Palash flowers
Crimson passion mingled in the clouds of the morning sky
Waves of rouge stroking fresh verdant leaves
Open up, Open up the doors.

Forests of reed murmur in the wafts of southern winds
Butterflies flit about in the green grass
Bees roam entreating the flowers
Playing the veena of a beggar on their wings
Besotted is the breeze with fragrant myrtle bowers
Open up, Open up the doors.

Restless are they for no reason

ওরা অকারণে চঞ্চল

ora okaroney chonchol

Restless are they for no reason
Swaying in the boughs
to the swinging of the breeze,
the new shoots of leaves.

Scattering a light so dazzling
What game are they upto,
in all ten directions
Murmuring, they bring into life
the tumult of youth.

Eavesdropping to hear in the skies farther and beyond
Whisperings of sounds of silence
Which words of the azure.

Surging flow of fountains of life
They cascade and fall in continuous streams
Of the forever ascetic mother earth
They are the dark flames of sacrificial fire