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Snehendu Kar Poem
Walk Alone (Motherland)
By Rabindranath Tagore
Translation by Snehendu Kar
If no one listens to your call-
then you must walk on alone.
Move on alone, move on alone, and move on alone.
If no one speaks to you- oh, oh my hapless one,
If everyone turns the other way; if everyone is afraid,
Then open your heart and speak out your mind alone.
If everyone turns away, oh my hapless one,
If as you walk alone on a dark road
no one joins you on your journey,
Then you must crush the thorns on your path
with your bleeding feet and walk ahead alone.
If no one holds up a light, -oh my hapless one
if on a dark, stormy, and rainy night
everyone seeks refuge behind a closed door, -
then, with the flame from a roaring lightning
set your own ribcage on fire
and burn alone in that holy pyre
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This poem was dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi as a homage
to his non-violent freedom struggle to win India’s freedom
from British Raj (Rule)
Copyright © Snehendu Kar | Year Posted 2017
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Snehendu Kar Poem
Pyar Nahin Hai Sursey Jishko
A Qawwali by Ustad Bade Amanat Ali Khan
Inspired by Rabindranath Tagore
Translated by Snehendu Kar
If one does not love music,
That fool is not fully human.
If there were no music,
There would be no soulmates
Nor love in our lives.
Such is the miracle
Made by seven magical notes
That heals all worldly ills
And fills us with heavenly bliss.
Those consumed by music
Are not mindless moths
That rush into dazzling fire
And turn into worthless ash.
Music makes us immune
To deadly sins and pain.
Music makes us human,
Music unites us with the Divine.
Copyright © Snehendu Kar | Year Posted 2017
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Snehendu Kar Poem
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When You Came (Jakhon Eshechile)
By Rabindranath Tagore
Translated by Snehendu Kar
When you came,
it was a dim twilight.
The moon had not yet arisen
Across the ocean shore.
Dear forever unknown,
Yet I recognized you at once
With my sixth sense.
Your lingering song
Filled my longing soul
And we became one.
When you left, alone,
In the darkness of night,
The moon had climbed
On the bosom of the sky.
Your fragrant garland
Was lying on the wayside.
I could surmise, for whom
You left this adoring boon.
Prem (Love): Geetabitaan, Song 275, p. 381,
Kolkata: Visva- Bharati
Copyright © Snehendu Kar | Year Posted 2017
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Snehendu Kar Poem
The Last Sun
("Prathom Diner Surja" )
By Rabindranath Tagore
The sun on my first dawn
when I was just born:
asked: "Who are you?"
I had no response.
Years and decades were gone,
on my last day, the last sun
across the western horizon,
on a quiet twilight,
asked the last question:
"Who are you?"
I had no response.
© Translation and Photo by Snehendu Kar
From: Sesh Lekha (Last Scrawl); Sanchayita, p.838
Copyright © Snehendu Kar | Year Posted 2017
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Snehendu Kar Poem
Prashno (Question):
by Rabindranath Tagore
Translated by Snehendu Kar.
Bhagawan*, from time to time,
You’ve sent your Gurus and saints
On this merciless world of ours.
They implored and advised us:
“Love and forgive others and
Banish hate from your hearts.”
They are esteemed and admired.
Yet, in our difficult lives and times,
We fail to heed their calls.
I have seen how blatant hate
and senseless violence,
in dark and dreadful nights,
Brutalize the weak and the powerless.
I have seen countless children,
tormented by cruelty and pain,
knock their bleeding heads on stone-deaf walls.
They aimlesly cry out for relief and respite,
that they never find in their lives.
My voice is choked, and my flute is quiet.
Silent stars on moonless nights,
witness my grief and my plight.
That is why, I weep and ask:
“Dear Lord- those who have poisoned your air,
Those who have plunged us in dark despair,
Those who have drowned us in violence and warfare
Have you ever forgiven them?
Have you ever loved them?”
__________________________________________
* Bhagawan is God
Copyright © Snehendu Kar | Year Posted 2017
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Snehendu Kar Poem
The Last Poem (Sesher Kobita)
By Rabindranath Tagore
Translated by Snehendu Kar
Do you hear the roaring march
of the eternal Time?
His speeding chariot is causing shivers
In the heart of this universe.
You can hear the screaming stars
Crushed under its wheels
In dark somber nights.
Dear friend, that racing time
has trapped me in his net
and lifted me on his chariot
On a fearless journey- far away from you.
It seems I have lived a thousand deaths
And have arrived at the peak
Of the tallest mountain
On a bright new dawn.
The blasting gust on the chariot
has blown away my identity.
Now there is no way for my return.
If we happen to meet me again
You’ll not see someone you’ve known
Oh, my dear friend, farewell.
Please do not grieve for me.
I have my Karma and my destiny
My cup is not yet empty,
I’ve taken a vow not to let it be empty.
If someone, somewhere, waits for me
with a keen expectation,
She’ll make me worthy of existence.
She- who gathers a basket
Of fragrant queen-of-nights
On a full-moon night,
And brings a welcome garland
on a dark moonless night,
She-who accepts me
With all my merits and limits,
I wish to offer myself
in her silent meditation.
The gifts I gave are yours forever.
From time to time your lonely heart
May quench its thirst
From the memories we made
And the dreams we’ve shared.
Oh, my dear peerless friend
The gifts I offered you,
were the fruits of the gifts
I’ve received from you.
The more you have taken from me,
the more you have filled me
with deeper gratitude.
Oh, my dearest friend, farewell.
© Copyright Translation by Snehendu B. Kar
(The Last Poem 1030)
Copyright © Snehendu Kar | Year Posted 2017
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Snehendu Kar Poem
A Strange Bird in a Cage
By Lalan Fakir
(A Bengali Baul Sung)
“Khachar Bhitor Achin Pakhi”
? © Translated by: Snehendu Kar
?I see a strange bird in a cage,
And wonder how she enters
and leaves her cage.
If only I knew her well,
And could suppress my own ego,
I would beg her for her secret.
I see a strange bird in a cage
And wonder how she enters
and leaves her cage.
I see rows of majestic mansions,
With their sturdy gates and tall columns,
Holding up decorated walls
With dazzling display opulence.????????????
Humble huts of squalid souls??
Hide deep in their dark shadows.
?I wonder why
The bird is destined
To fly in and out of her cage.
And why is she destined
To keep mending her cage
Made of fragile cane.
Lalan Fakir weeps and whispers
To those who care to hear:
?"A day will come for sure
When the cage will be no more??
And the bird will fly away forever-
Who knows to where???
?
(July 18,2020)
Note: Lalan Fakir is the most revered "Baul" Saint ( like Sufi masters) from Bengal (India). The Bauls are wandering bards who reject all social constructions ( e.g. race, religion, caste/class, ) and roam around the country singing Baul Gaans ( Baul songs which are very rich in metaphors and melodies) to spread their spiritual wisdom.
Copyright © Snehendu Kar | Year Posted 2020
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Snehendu Kar Poem
You Have Made Me Limitless
(Amare Tumi Aasesh Korecho)
You have made me limitless,
Such is your divine miracle.
Again, and again, whenever
My fragile cup was nearly empty,
You filled it with a new life
And boundless bliss.
Your magic flute made of humble reeds
Breathes in me your divine melody ;
And I sing your song in your praise.
As I wander across hills and valleys,
In search of you near and far.
Your music fills me with ecstasy
That comes alive in the songs I sing.
As I sail toward the western shore,
Your divine love soothes my soul.
Yet my thirst is never quenched
And I long forevermore.
(The first song in Tagore's Nobel Prize-winning book of songs "Gitanjali"-
which means 'song offerings'
Copyright © Snehendu Kar | Year Posted 2017
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Details |
Snehendu Kar Poem
A Strange Bird in a Cage
By Lalan Fakir
(A Bengali Baul Sung)
“Khachar Bhitor Achin Pakhi”
? © Translated by: Snehendu Kar
?I see a strange bird in a cage,
And wonder how she enters
and leaves her cage.
If only I knew her well,
And could suppress my own ego,
I would beg her for her secret.
I see a strange bird in a cage
And wonder how she enters
and leaves her cage.
I see rows of majestic mansions,
With their sturdy gates and tall columns,
Holding up decorated walls
With dazzling display opulence.????????????
Humble huts of squalid souls??
Hide deep in their dark shadows.
?I wonder why
The bird is destined
To fly in and out of her cage.
And why is she destined
To keep mending her cage
Made of fragile cane.
Lalan Fakir weeps and whispers
To those who care to hear:
?"A day will come for sure
When the cage will be no more??
And the bird will fly away forever-
Who knows to where???
?
(July 18,2020)
Note: Lalan Fakir is the most revered "Baul" Saint ( like Sufi masters) from Bengal (India). The Bauls are wandering bards who reject all social constructions ( e.g. race, religion, caste/class, ) and roam around the country singing Baul Gaans ( Baul songs which are very rich in metaphors and melodies) to spread their spiritual wisdom.
Copyright © Snehendu Kar | Year Posted 2020
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