Login
|
Join PoetrySoup
Home
Submit Poems
Login
Sign Up
Member Home
My Poems
My Quotes
My Profile & Settings
My Inboxes
My Outboxes
Soup Mail
Contest Results/Status
Contests
Poems
Poets
Famous Poems
Famous Poets
Dictionary
Types of Poems
Quotes
Short Stories
Articles
Forum
Blogs
Poem of the Day
New Poems
Resources
Syllable Counter
Anthology
Grammar Check
Greeting Card Maker
Classifieds
Member Area
Member Home
My Profile and Settings
My Poems
My Quotes
My Short Stories
My Articles
My Comments Inboxes
My Comments Outboxes
Soup Mail
Poetry Contests
Contest Results/Status
Followers
Poems of Poets I Follow
Friend Builder
Soup Social
Poetry Forum
New/Upcoming Features
The Wall
Soup Facebook Page
Who is Online
Link to Us
Member Poems
Poems - Top 100 New
Poems - Top 100 All-Time
Poems - Best
Poems - by Topic
Poems - New (All)
Poems - New (PM)
Poems - New by Poet
Poems - Random
Poems - Read
Poems - Unread
Member Poets
Poets - Best New
Poets - New
Poets - Top 100 Most Poems
Poets - Top 100 Most Poems Recent
Poets - Top 100 Community
Poets - Top 100 Contest
Famous Poems
Famous Poems - African American
Famous Poems - Best
Famous Poems - Classical
Famous Poems - English
Famous Poems - Haiku
Famous Poems - Love
Famous Poems - Short
Famous Poems - Top 100
Famous Poets
Famous Poets - Living
Famous Poets - Most Popular
Famous Poets - Top 100
Famous Poets - Best
Famous Poets - Women
Famous Poets - African American
Famous Poets - Beat
Famous Poets - Cinquain
Famous Poets - Classical
Famous Poets - English
Famous Poets - Haiku
Famous Poets - Hindi
Famous Poets - Jewish
Famous Poets - Love
Famous Poets - Metaphysical
Famous Poets - Modern
Famous Poets - Punjabi
Famous Poets - Romantic
Famous Poets - Spanish
Famous Poets - Suicidal
Famous Poets - Urdu
Famous Poets - War
Poetry Resources
Anagrams
Bible
Book Store
Character Counter
Cliché Finder
Poetry Clichés
Common Words
Copyright Information
Grammar
Grammar Checker
Homonym
Homophones
How to Write a Poem
Lyrics
Love Poem Generator
New Poetic Forms
Plagiarism Checker
Poetics
Poetry Art
Publishing
Random Word Generator
Spell Checker
Store
What is Good Poetry?
Word Counter
Email Poem
Your IP Address: 18.218.129.100
Your Email Address:
Required
Email Address Not Valid.
To Email Address:
Email Address Not Valid.
Required
Subject
Required
Personal Note:
Poem Title:
Poem
This is a translation from the poem "Camellia", by Rabindranath Tagore, Nobel laureate Poet from India (1861 -1941) Understandably the story took place in late nineteenth century - early twentieth century Bengal. Her name is Kamala. saw it – on the cover of her notebook – She was travelling in a tram, with her brother. on the way to college, I was sitting on the bench behind her. I could see the fine curve on one side of her face, and the silky hair in a bun on her shoulder, There were a book and a notebook on her lap, I didn’t get off where I was supposed to. From now I calculate the time before going out, That time might not have matched with my working hours, But, matched with the time when they travelled, We met quite often. I reasoned in my head – it might not be related, but she was my co-traveller. Her appearance projected high intelligence, brilliant as brilliant could be, The hair was brushed away from her forehead, The bright eyesight had no bashfulness. I wished – there could arise a distress, I rescued her and felt blessed – Some kind of strife on our route, some arrogance shown by a trouble-maker, these things happened all the time But, my fate was like a waterhole with muddy water, Nothing significant happened there. The humble days croaked in a monotonous tone, like a frog's Not the sharks or crocodiles were invited, nor the swans! It was a heavily crowded day, A half-British gentleman was sitting beside Kamala, wanted to – sweep the hat away from his head, shove him off to the street, There was no reason, my hands looked for some excuse. At this time he lighted a fat cigar, and started smoking it. I went close to him, ” Leave the cigar”, He pretended not to hear me, Kept smoking, creating circles of smoke, I pulled out the cigar from his mouth, and threw it in the street, He clasped his hand, gave me a smouldering stare, But didn’t say anything, jumped out of the vehicle. Perhaps he recognized me. I was quite renowned as a soccer-player, My name was well-known, The girl’s face reddened, Lowering her face, she pretended to open a book and read it. Her hands were shaking, Did not even glance at the brave hero. The office-going passengers said, ”well done, sir!” After a short while, the girl got off at an unfamiliar spot, called a cab, and left. Didn’t find her the next day, even the next day after, On the third day, I found her Going to the college in a rickshaw! Realized, I, like a pig-headed individual, had done a blunder, That girl was capable of taking her own responsibility, I was not needed at all. Again said to myself - my fate is like a pond with muddy water, The memory of bravery was mocking me in my heart, like a joke, Decided – I was going to fix the mistake. I had the information – they went to Darjeeling in summer vacation, That year I drastically needed to change the weather. They had a small house, they named it – Motia –off from the road, in a corner, hidden behind the trees,There were mountains in front of me. heard, they were not coming that year. I was almost returning, then met a follower of mine,Mohanlal, Skinny man, tall, wearing specs,weak digestive system improved with climate in Darjeeling. He said, “Tanuka is my sister,She will not let me go without me introducing her to you”, That girl was like a shadow, her body was just enough for sustenance, Her focus was on academics, not on food, That’s why she had so much respect for a soccer-player, She thought, my compassion was the reason that I was meeting her, Alas! What a game of fate! Two days before I was about to leave, Tanuka said, “I will present you something, so you will remember us – a flowery plant! That’s a trouble - I thought, but stayed quiet. Tanuka said ”it’s an expensive, rare type, it needs a lot of care to survive in our country”. I asked ” What’s the name?” She said, ” Camellia”. I was shocked –Another name appeared shining in the darkness of my heart. I smiled, and said, ”Camellia? perhaps it’s not easy to win her heart!" I didn’t know what Tanuka thought – all of a sudden, she blushed, and looked delighted at the same time. Translated by : Malabika Ray Choudhury PART 2 of the poem has been posted.
CAPTCHA Preview
Type the characters you see in the picture
Required