COTTAGE DWELLER

                                                             COTTAGE DWELLER

                                                                   DEBIDAS RAY

You have set up your cottage with unbolted door

by the side of the path under the shade of the banyan tree

When I pass in front of it, I think to myself

that I too had a claim over your home.

Caught in a whirlwind, I lost that right –

being busy with too much work and responsibilities galore.

The passerby who walks this way

quite unmindfully comes and sits down here.

The manner he sits is the same as he walks –

he comes and goes in his own laid back style.

His seat is light and very little luggage he carries -

straight in he comes and straight out he goes.

I, on my part, construct a house foregoing any rest,

build floor upon floor keeping an eye on the sky.

In the complex web of thoughts I try to entrap distant time,

in the process, I myself get enmeshed in the same web.

Eventually I end up forfeiting my right over the path.

In the beginning of the poem Kutirbasi these three stanzas were

                                  found in the original hand written draft which was yet to be finalized.

Sanchayita,11^thed. 2010. p872-73.

                                             Published in POETRY WORLD, vol.5(no2) June, 2012,p17

                             

                                                    FATIGUE

                                                    DEBIDAS RAY

                         Pardon me if I feel tired – pardon me my Lord

                         Pardon me if ever I lag behind on the road.

                         If my heart trembles like this, as it does today

                         Ignore that pang and pardon me Lord.

                         Forgive that meanness, Oh Lord,

                         Forgive if ever I look back.

                         If due to day’s heat under the burning sun,

                         the garland offered in the puja-plate dries up 
                         Ignore that dullness and pardon me Lord.

                                            

             English translation of Rabindranath Tagore’s poem

             entitled ‘Klanti’ from his collection of poems

             Geetali’ in Sanchayita 4^thed, 1943.p525.

      Published in The Visva-Bharati Quarterly

      Volume:-19-20 October-2010-September-2011 pp.109-110.

THE FIRST DAY’S SUN

English Translation of  Tagore's original Bengali poem  "Pratham Diner Surya"  by DEBIDAS RAY

Upon arrival of the new entity,

the first day’s sun

asked the question,

“Who are you?”

There was no answer.

After many years elapsed,

the day’s last sun

at the western shore of the sea

-in quietness of the evening-

asked for the last time,

“Who are you?”

Didn’t get any reply.

English translation of Rabindranath Tagore’s poem entitled “Pratham Diner Surya” from his collection of poems “Shesh Lekha” in SANCHAYITA, 11th ed.2010, p838.
Published in POETRY WORLD, vol.5(no1) April 2012, p14.

       

FEAR OF BEWITCHMENT

English Translation of  Tagore's original Bengali poem "Moher Ashanka"  by DEBIDAS RAY

The budding flower opened its eye and
                                           beheld this earth –
green, beautiful, pleasant and full of
                                           musical sounds.
Just then, calling the world at large it
                                            said, “My dear,
as long as I stay, you please stay here too.”

                                                                           

  English translation of Rabindranath Tagore’s poem entitled “Moher Ashanka” in his collection  of poems  “Kanika” in SANCHAYITA, 4^thed, 1943.p292.

 Published in POETRY WORLD,vol 4(no3), July 2011, p18-19.                   

ROYAL ORDER

English Translation of  Tagore's original Bengali poem “Raj Byabastha”  by DEBIDAS RAY

The emperor - out of fear – stays put in the police station,

Whatever laws he promulgates, are never complied with.

His roving spies are always on the look out,

If by chance, any saintly person strays and is found alone

They have to inform the king at once -

For his safety, they keep the saint in prison.

                                                                                                  

English Translation of Rabindranath Tagore’s poem entitled “Raj Byabastha” in his collection of poems “Chharar Chhabi” in Sanchayita,4th ed.1943, p762.

Published in POETRY WORLD, vol 3(no9),January 2011,p29.

IN SICK BED

English Translation of  Tagore's original Bengali poem " Rogasajjaay" by DEBIDAS RAY 

In the land of Gods during dance festivals,

if even for a moment, a tired Urvashi

by chance misses a single step,

the King of Gods does not pardon her.

In venues where human beings meet

there too, the same rules of heavens apply.

That is why, there is diffidence underlying

my literary work because I fear that

due to exhaustion at the end of a burning fevered day

there may occur – in such pursuit - laxity

and inadvertent faltering in steps.

English translation of the introduction to “Rogasajjaay” – a collection of poems written  in sick bed by Rabindranath Tagore in SANCHAYITA, 4^th.ed, 1943, p876.

 Published in POETRY WORLD, vol 3(no 8), December 2010, p26.

WORTHY OF DEVOTION

English Translation of  Tagore's original Bengali poem " Bhakti Bhajan" by DEBIDAS RAY

It is chariot festival; crowds are thronging the streets,

There is great pomp and grandeur on show -

The devotees lie prostrate on road and pay their obeisance.

The road felt it must be the God they were praying to,

The chariot harboured similar thoughts,

The idol too considered itself to be the deity concerned

while the Omnipotent Almighty had a good laugh.

                                                

English translation of Rabindranath Tagore’s poem entitled

“Bhakti Bhajan” from his collection of poems “Kanika” in SANCHAYITA, 4^th.ed. 1943, p290.

 Published in POETRY WORLD, vol 3(no7), November 2010, p19.