the missing tuppence

Translation of a song by Kabir Sumon:

sometimes a time is due
when this life smirks at you
like ten pennies found lying on the way
after many a long nights
a vacation is in sight
hope to find the missing two someday

hope is my life at home
hope fills my purse alone
that familiar shilling I lost somewhere
can’t keep track of spends
gains and losses all blend
the day’s gone by as dusk arrives here

evening will take it all
wipe clean off the wall
darkness still got all its frontiers at play
frontiers I’ll go beyond
with songs of life I bond
hope to find the missing two someday

The original transliterated in roman script

kokhono somoy aasey
jibon muchki haasey.
theek jayno pore paoya choddo ana
onek diner por
miley jaabey obosor
aasha rakhi peye jabo baaki du ana

asha niye ghor kori
ashaye pocket bhori
porey gechhey kon faakey chena aadhuli
hisheb melano bhar
aaye bayey ekakaar..
choley gelo saara din elo godhuli

sondhey nebey lootey
onek ta chetey pootey
ondhokareyr tobu achhey simana
simana perotey chai
jiboner gaan gai
aasha rakhi peye jabo baki du ana

White Nights

In the darkest hours of the night
the moon serene in its snowy light
and dreams in their thousand hues
like butterflies in their flight

i snooze and mull over the day
what I got and what passed away
where did those passions sway
like that splendid sunset sight

i wonder now which path to take,
which lawns to mow and leaves to rake,
which smile is true and which is fake
and the bell which ends the fight

the spots of yellow on the roads
the daffodils and the purple odes
clouds in their heavenly abodes
tell thousand tales of delight

i wait and wonder where to start
the new life of a newer heart
and dream and love till we part
from this kingdom of the night

Ganer Gunto - Sukumar Ray - Translation

In the summer heat all upbeat with his song, Mister Sharma
His booming tone is looming loud from Dilli to Burma
He sings without a worry, he sings with all his might
Throbbing heads in awful dread mobs take a flight
Some succumb to their wounds, some are ill at ease
Some scream in agony, “This singing should just cease!”
Loose from their nooses, cows and horses fall dead still
Mister Sharma unawares sings louder with more zeal
Poor beasts on the streets swoon and faint in a wreck
On their tails grimly wail in madness “What the heck!”
The ones in the seas quietly stay hidden in the deep
The ones on trees get no lease, keep falling in a heap
The birds caught in a whirlwind do somersaults in air
Everyone cry in pain, “Please stop this singing dear!”
The song makes the heavens tremble, the lands break in two
Sharma sings with all his zest and not a bit of rue
There was one batty buck, but quite an ace I’d say
He butted with his horns Sharma’s bum out of the way
That was it, in a jiffy all the singing simply stopped
‘Omigosh’ was all he said before Sharma plopped.