Amazing Earth

Amazed, you amaze me O earth

I see a dismal world since birth

Amazed, we still yearn to be free

Amazed at the mounting wrath we see

Amazed, you amaze me lot more

Hunger pangs overwhelm evermore

Amazed, you amaze me again

All over I see the trades of bane

I see the balance sheets of life

Strewn with inane blood and strife

Pain is all this life is ever worth

I salute thee O’ amazing earth

Translation of "Obak Prithibi Obak Korle Tumi" by Sukanta Bhattacharya

O’ milady from distant shores

I know, I do know who you are
O’ milady from distant shores
You hail from beyond oceans, far
O’ milady from distant shores

You, I beheld, in autumn lights
You, I beheld, in moonlit nights
You, I hold, within my core
O’ milady from distant shores

I listened awestruck and spellbound
In the vast skies your songs resound
My soul is for yours to take unbound
O’ milady from distant shores

I have tread a thousand miles
To set foot in your native isles
I arrived alone at your doors
O’ milady from distant shores

(Translation of "Ami chini go chini tomarey ogo bideshini" by Tagore)

time to go...

When the world slowly turned a murky grey

And the old haggard folk just walked away

We all knew that it was now time for us to go

And let the fresh blossom welcome the new day

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sketches...

remember...

Sunset across the seven hills

Mindless whispers

Laughter and games

Simplicity personified

Times that are now lost

In worn yellow pages

Of a forgotten diary

Friendships grown and

Faded into oblivion

Faint colours on a painted canvas

Songs begotten

In a cherished silence

And then lost in chaos

The complexities that

Surround us make way

For more bitterness

Yet, truth still prevails

Among the lush green

Meadows of the Himachal hills

Among the ruins of

Rajput forts and the tales they tell

We only have to look once

With those awestruck eyes

That we were born with

And seen the world as

Infants those fine old days…

Quiet

A quiet quaintness surrounds

The single stone-walled

Mansion here

Hillocks rolling over

Into a wilderness that never

Forgets to remind you

All that lies beyond

And all that you will never know

A sudden solitude engulfs

The quaintness that vows to kill

All that is remembered

In the snow uphill

And the drops of red

On the whiteness glow

Whence the tale unfolds

The battle ensues

Wondering where to go…

the hills beckon

o’ blue mountains, here we come

to soak in your splendid placid lure

away from toil, away from qualms

amidst a splendour calm and pure

pining for the pines for long

pining for the fresh cool breeze

soul searching evenings throng

the depths of all my memories

let me lie in the meadows plush

let me see the blossoms bloom

see the rhododendrons blush

thwarting every sign of gloom

in the stillness of the night below

time stood still on the lofty peaks

where the shimmering moonlit glow

wandering souls in silence seeks

give me all your loveliness

all that grandeur you accrue

let me sleep a little less

and live a little longer too

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.