Rain-Drenched Winds In My Sleep

['In my youth, one day, love came to me' Rabindranath, Arogya No. 13] (1) When did light string me to sleep’s dark branches, O Tamal, When did peacocks enter night's township go from door to door peddling songs! You carefree soul, Let the wayfarer give alms today let her give all your best wishes to lovers Gladly let her give to paupers like you--- Only a fistful of grass only a handful of desolate sand may she offer to the river, enough, You the destitute Do not linger any longer thinking Aid is on the way aid will be here wait no more Waste no more time Someone has sent out a call to every village, every hamlet Beyond my thoughts all forests, groves, trees have gone crazy in the wind in the wind like a crazy girl walking down the street unheeding uncaring shoeless. And seeing that from all directions waves swell distant vistas come flying in And wondrously, now in Chaitra, what a furore “Sraban has come, Sraban has come”, The sky grows eager with dense deep clouds A fierce gale tears since morning Its madness knows no bounds Drunken trees sway their heads now now they begin to fly And over the flying forest clang cymbals, Drums beat again again kohl-black rain clouds rain clouds mine. (2) For me, only the walking All night within the cloud-hued black dreams beneath sleep All night a bewitching snakebite in my head Never to be forgotten O seven seas, however did I, a wayward fishing boat Blithely ride your various heaving billowing waves Who was it, a coral island, that stopped me midway made me set up house My meagre shelter for a few days---------- That too I left behind when in dream one dawn I heard The command Left behind family friends and a lap to put my head in without a word I came away My fishing boat hurtles from one hill to another Suddenly my boat sinks Rises again, and then Heedless of my protests my reluctance She takes me on the sandbanks on the fishing boat She took me unknown woman..... (3) Days die. O dusk trailing the dusty soil If you have known me Then come, take me back home Hold me by the hand and take me home. In the steps of a ballad I have come this far Now I know not where I am My eyes were fixed on its watery footprints I no more know what comes Watching the road so long my eyes are blinded Today I hesitate, My own words sound strange Yet one day in the darkness Feet had pressed down on my feet, lips desperately found my lips Clasped my head to breasts, drowning it, Two waves, two meagre waves.... And over my newly hatched throbbing youthful words someone had deliriously rubbed her face again and again and said, “No peace no peace not a moment’s respite will this man let me.” The days died. O dusk trailing the dusty soil O dusk shadowy behind trees I hold your both hands and say---can you not take me once, just once back to that long-done kiss of those faraway days? I promise you: I shall begin to write you afresh Right from scratch In a brand new tongue………… (4) Come death’s simple words Sleeping waters in wind’s way On the water, death’s simple words The divine perches on a branch Along night’s way with the morning sun Come death’s simple words A sparrow perches on his shoulders He forgets the divine stares at flowers A dewdrop on the grass-blade another a teardrop in his eye Flowersprig, flowersprig Touch him gently while he sleeps. Speak, death’s simple words, Of the land begun in fire Of the sowing in that land This song will outlive death What river this beneath your feet Where its bends and meanders There the women tend the garden Sprinkle on their hearts in the morning moist words He who has never known love Let him go and lie beside the red river Burn simple words mine On that tree where Every leaf cups fire A beggar-woman’s lost child Falls asleep by the roadside Touch him gently, o flowersprig, Leave all else aside, come gently touch. [Translated from 'Sbapne Paaoyaa Baadal Haaoyaa' (Bangla) by Nandini Gupta]