Sunless
Kazi Nazrul Islam
The afternoon-sun sags, collapsing on the roadway,
Sravan's dark clouds swarm in,
Darkening the day,
And shrouding the sky,
Since you, Bengal's heart,
India's bard, and the world’s sun,
Have passed away!
Did you not hear at all the lament of mother earth?
Was that why you feigned illness and kept your eyes shut?
This day the pulse of Bengal has begun to throb with pain
O poet!— seas, rivers, forests— all cry out for you in
vain!
Vedantic knowledge was yours, forever on the tip of your tongue
Your writings had Saraswati’s blessings, full of learning
and rhyme.
In your meditations, Shiva, God of everything auspicious,
resided
In your heart Sri Krishna, the one who had even smitten
Love, dallied!
Durga, consort of Shiva, and source of all joy, would
with you converse.
How could they, deities so powerful, not feel the extent
of our loss?
How could they snatch away what they had given so
sympathetically?
After all, you were Bengal's beacon of hope, lighting us
up eternally!
We took pride in your glory; you made us feel earth was
our only need
You made us forget our afflictions—timidity, hunger,
misery, and ruin!
You shone over our heads every day—like your
namesake--the sun!
You made us proud; you made us feel we would never be
undone!
You've bestowed much love on this land—on India and
Bengal,
How have we offended to have made you thus leave us all?
Tell me—who else is there to bless those who dare to
blaze?
Who else can
protect the pride of the ones that are frail?
Behold, the whole of Bengal laments, unfurling its
tresses.
See in this lunar fortnight the distressed moon hiding
itself!
Screened by Shravan's rain cloud, the sun weeps in the
horizon
In house after house men and women cry out, "O poet,
return!"
Alas, India's fate blazes on a pyre, the body no longer
visible.
This day, the vermilion marking Bengal's beauties too is
invisible!
Today Saraswati's lyre and Bengal's poetic soul know only
silence
And funeral flames have scorched even the moon's radiance!
Till now none knew how close you had become to everyone
All roads now hold millions of people—all with grief
overcome!
After you return to the rasa- filled realm from which you
had come
To give us delight, won't you miss us and lament your
earthly home?
Your lyrical messages had made you this land's dearest
soul
But it was not merely its loveliness-- you had loved all
of Bengal!
Assure us, O poet dearest to our heart, responding to our
love
You will return once more to your people from up above.
Full of the rasps, you cried out soulfully for our
suffering race
Why did you enamor us so? Now we'll rue forever your
loss!
I believe that if the sun is put out the entire solar
system will go.
Bengal's sun set forever today; what we've lost only we
will know!
No one besides Bengalis will feel the extent of their
deprivation
Nowhere outside Bengal will be heard such loud
lamentation!
The sun that shone over us has left, leaving us all
benighted
In Bengal's heart the one light afire is that on your
funeral pyre!
The rest of India envied Bengalis their good fortune and
wondered
How had the sun on Bengal's thatched huts deign to
descend?
Will Bengal get such a great, world-conquering superman
again?
Can this poor land ever again dream of the kind of
happiness
You gave us? And so, Kobi guru, our beloved muse-
teacher,
We grieve, finding no consolation, no solace whatsoever!
We had thought of you as God's blessing given to us
eternally
Let not death's torpor make us forget forever heaven's
bounty.
As you depart from us let us plant on your feet farewell
kisses
No matter where you are keep this ill-fated people in
your wishes’
0 comments:
Post a Comment