May's Retreat
(On Tagore’s Birthday)
(On Tagore’s Birthday)
Rhythm of words do knock
your myriad mind
words rustle like dried leaves
that you wear as an anklet, they keep pace
they howl, they whistle
the notes of woody floral scents
scents of musk and dew rose
they sing in harmony, words painted
on the tree of Krishnachuda.
your myriad mind
words rustle like dried leaves
that you wear as an anklet, they keep pace
they howl, they whistle
the notes of woody floral scents
scents of musk and dew rose
they sing in harmony, words painted
on the tree of Krishnachuda.
My mind’s tuned to spring
that is, withered and tired with day’s chores
it mixes with the cuckoo’s tunes and rejuvenates
it’s the murmur, the haunting of Chaitra noon
that smears all the buds blossoming with clear tangent light
that is, withered and tired with day’s chores
it mixes with the cuckoo’s tunes and rejuvenates
it’s the murmur, the haunting of Chaitra noon
that smears all the buds blossoming with clear tangent light
The nor’-wester comes in fine garments
and new attitudes
comes the month that celebrates
the Poet Tagore’s birth
it lingers in the footfall
the immortal works of him, finds justification
even today
we celebrate him, we celebrate him,
in the month of Baisakh, even today.
and new attitudes
comes the month that celebrates
the Poet Tagore’s birth
it lingers in the footfall
the immortal works of him, finds justification
even today
we celebrate him, we celebrate him,
in the month of Baisakh, even today.
The days move on, unknowingly
the sorrows creep and peep in secrecy
unrevealed, they rustle and jostle
and embalmed with them the
little words have nice melodies to play
in the depth of the mind,
they create a harmony
like the uninterrupted flow
of a river’s gurgling sprout
the sorrows creep and peep in secrecy
unrevealed, they rustle and jostle
and embalmed with them the
little words have nice melodies to play
in the depth of the mind,
they create a harmony
like the uninterrupted flow
of a river’s gurgling sprout
The slide, they glide abreast the current
of flowing thoughts
Do not waive, do not mock me
the wind’s heavy with charged motions
like a mirage it deflects --
do borrow some covenant from it
let them remain in your fond memories --
in seclusion let them retire
and replicate
of flowing thoughts
Do not waive, do not mock me
the wind’s heavy with charged motions
like a mirage it deflects --
do borrow some covenant from it
let them remain in your fond memories --
in seclusion let them retire
and replicate
Has the Sun in the new dawn
looked upon your face, has it impinged on you
kissed your brows?
Let you replenish your soul in the depth
and warmth of the green, green around you
Let that be an awakening of our souls
Where you and I do greet and meet.
looked upon your face, has it impinged on you
kissed your brows?
Let you replenish your soul in the depth
and warmth of the green, green around you
Let that be an awakening of our souls
Where you and I do greet and meet.
Krishnachuda (Delonix regia, Gulmohar), noted for its fern-like leaves and flamboyant display of flowers;
also known as the Flame Tree.
Chaitra: The 12th month of the Bengali calendar
Baisakh: The 1st month of the Bengali calendar
Chaitra: The 12th month of the Bengali calendar
Baisakh: The 1st month of the Bengali calendar
[Deeya Bhattacharya's translation of the Bengali “kobir janmodin E chhonder shobdera” by the same poet.]
Under The Shade Of The Flamboyant -- Zaira Dzhaubaeva
The Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore was the 1st non-European to win (in 1913) to win the Nobel Prize in literature. He was born on 7 May 1861 and began writing poems at 8; at 16 he published his 1st mature poems under the pseudonym Bhānusiṃha ("Sun Lion," the name of a 17th-century poet) and co-wrote a play with his younger brother Jyotirindranath (a noted playwright, musician, and painter), and invented the Bengali-language short story genre with "Bhikharini" (The Beggar Woman); by 1877 he was writing short stories and dramas. His canon comprised hundreds of texts (autobiographies, novels, essays, short stories, travelogues, dramas) and 2,000 songs (including the national anthems of India and Bangladesh, and the Sri Lankan national anthem was inspired by his work) plus paintings and sketches, which he began doing when he was 60.
ReplyDeleteDelonix regia is a species of flowering plant in the bean family Fabaceae, subfamily Caesalpinioideae noted for its fern-like leaves. One of many “flame trees” it is also called the royal poinciana and flamboyant. In the Indian state of Kerala it is the kaalvarippoo (“the flower of Calvary”) due to the belief among the Mar Thoma Nasrani (Christians who trace their origins to missionary activity by St. Thomas the Apostle in the 1st century) that when Jesus was crucified on Calvary his blood spilled over the flowers of a nearby member of the species.
The Banggabda is the Bengal solar calendar that perhaps dates to the 7th century, when Shashanka founded the Gauda kingdom, the 1st separate political entity in Bengal, after expelling the Gupta governors. A Hindu, he reputedly had the bodhi tree under which Siddartha Gautama achieved enlightenment as the Buddha. The calemdar may also have been developed by sultan Alauddin Husain Shah, the founder of the Hussain Shahi dynasty in the 15th century, to facilitate tax collection, and was modified by Mughal emperor Abu'l-Fath Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar and again by his grandson Shah Jahan. A new revised version was adopted in 1987 and its month names are based the astronomical text “Surya Siddhanta.”