Rabindranath Tagore

Translated from Bengali by Dipali Chakraborty

With the colour of my own perception (mind??)
     The emerald became green, the ruby became red.
I opened my eyes at the sky,
     And light was there
                 In the east, in the west.
I looked at the rose and said,`Beautiful!'
     Beautiful it became.

You may say, `This is Philosophy
This is not the message of a poet.'
I will answer, `This is Truth,
     Hence this is Poetry.'
This is my pride--
Pride on behalf of whole Mankind.
It is on the canvas of human perception (manusher ohongkarpoTei)
That the Great Creator creates his world of Art.

The philosopher meditates and chants in every breath--
         `No, no, no!
Not emeralds, not rubies, not light, not roses, not you, nor I'.
On the other hand, the infinite Being Himself has pursued His creation
     Within the limits of human mind,
         And this is called `I'.
Within the depths of that self Light and Darkness (light and darkness??) blended
     There arose images (forms??) and Emotion (emotion?? rasa??)
(dekhaa dilo rup, jege uthlo ras)
Who knows when, by what magic spell (shouldn't maya be kept? mayar montre)
`No' was turned into `Yes'
(too prosaic? are we missing something from "na" kokhon phute uthe holo "hnyaa".. phute othaa == turned into?? bloomed into??)
     through lines and colours, joy and sorrow.

Do not call it philosophy.
     my mind is full of delight
In this arena of creation of the Universal Self (lowercase kichhu kora jaay?? universal I = bishwo-aami??; chhoto-aami/boDo-aami)
     With brushes in hand and colours on a pallette.
The scholar says `The moon is old, (that old moon?? buDo chondrotaa)
     He has a cunning, cruel smile
Like a messenger of death
     He is stealthily approaching the ribs of the earth.
One day he will attract her oceans and mountains
     With a tremendous force.
This will produce a cipher on a new page
(Mortyoloke mohakaaler nuton khatay/paataa juDe naambe ekta shunyo)
     And devour all accounts of days and nights'.
Human monuments will lose their
     Pretence of immortality,
Human history will be swept over by the
     Dark ink of eternal Night (night??).
The dying eyes of mankind (ekdom aagertaao lc mankind noy kyano?)
     Will snatch away (nikiye nebe) the last hues from the universe.
The dying souls of mankind (manusher jabar diner mon)
     Will wipe off all its emotion.
Power will vibrate through the void,
     No light will be there.
Lifeless fingers will dance
     On the universal harp,
(??Beenahin sobhay jontrir aangul naachbe,/baajbe naa sur.)
No music will be there.

That day the unpoetic God will sit alone
     In the sky devoid of its blue blaze
With his accounts of impersonal existence.

Nowhere upto the farthest end of the vast universe,
     With the unlimited number of galaxies
This voice will sound,
     `You are beautiful!' `I love you!' ("tumi sundor"/"aami bhalobasi")

Will Great God (bidhata) sit again to meditate
     Through the ages--
And chant in the dusk of destruction
    `Speak! Oh, Speak!'
Will He plead, `Say, you are beautiful,(', ??)
     `Say, I love you'? ("balo, aami bhalobaasi"?)

Published January 1, 2003

Translated by Dipali Chakraborty [dIpaalI chakrabatI.r*] - Dipali Chakraborty was born in Calcutta in ... (more)

Click here to send your feedback

* To learn more about the ITRANS script for Bengali, click here.