Poetry
Rabindranath Tagore's Spring Songs
Mone Rabe Kina Rabe Aamare
Since whether you keep me in mind or not isn't in my mind at all,
I keep coming to your door repeatedly, singing, oh so needlessly.
Days go by, but as long as I'm around, whenever I'm close by
I'd like to drop in to glimpse your bashful, blissful smile, whenever I can
And so I keep on singing, again and again, oh so needlessly!
The flowers of Phalgun keep shedding petals as spring comes to an end
They fill my hands for a while and I don't want anything more then.
Even if day ends, light fades, songs cease and the veena stops playing
As long as I'm around, I hope you'll be filling my raft of joyful songs
And so I keep on singing, again and again, oh so needlessly!
Elem Notun Deshe
To a new world we've come—
Our broken boat sank and we drifted ashore
We thought we'd listen to unknown tongues and amazing pledges
Woven in multi-colored threads of joy and sorrow
We thought our hearts would lilt with songs tuned in distinct rhythms
And we'd go back full of tears and laughter tinged with the keenest hurt.
We felt some loving damsels whose names we didn't know
Would garland us with exotic flowers and swap hearts with us.
We believed that in the full flush of youth
And with Phalgun's springtime's surge of desire
Clove vines would ring with their ankle bells
As damsels unfurled their flowing tresses in the south wind!
Kotobaro Bhebechhinu
How often would I lose myself thinking
I would bare my heart at your feet?
I would fancy holding on to it tightly
And confessing: "I love you passionately!"
But I would think too: a heavenly angel—
How could I show my love so openly then?
I would revert to my thoughts once again
And then conclude: best to stay far away
And worship you in this life all by myself.
No one should see my love's intensity
No one should see me shed tears profusely.
But this day you yourself came my way to say
"Till now, my love for you I couldn't display!"
Fakrul Alam is the Pro Vice-Chancellor of East-West University. He is also the Adviser of Star Literature and Review Pages.
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