Most of the lyrics of love and life, the translations of which from Bengali are published in this book, were written much earlier than the series of religious poems contained in the boo...
HAVE mercy upon your servant, my queen… The assembly is over and my servants are… When you have finished with others, that… What can you expect when it is too late? Make me the gardener of your flower gard…
“Ah, poet, the evening draws near; your… “Do you in your lonely musing hear the m… “It is evening,” the poet said, “and I… “I watch if young straying hearts meet t… “Who is there to weave their passionate…
In the morning I cast my net into the s… I dragged up from the dark abyss things… When with the day’s burden I went home,… I hesitated for a moment, and then place… She glanced at them and said, “What str…
Ah me, why did they build my house by th… They moor their laden boats near my tree… They come and go and wander at their wil… I sit and watch them; my time wears on. Turn them away I cannot. And thus my da…
I am restless. I am athirst for far-awa… My soul goes out in a longing to touch t… O Great Beyond, O the keen call of thy… I forget, I ever forget, that I have no… I am eager and wakeful, I am a stranger…
The tame bird was in a cage, the free bi… They met when the time came, it was a de… The free bird cries, “O my love, let us… The cage bird whispers, “Come hither, l… Says the free bird, “Among bars, where…
O mother, the young Prince is to pass b… attend to my work this morning? Show me how to braid up my hair; tell me… Why do you look at me amazed, mother? I know well he will not glance up once a…
When the lamp went out by my bed I woke… I sat at my open window with a fresh wre… The young traveller came along the road… A pearl chain was on his neck, and the s… For very shame I could not say, “She is…
When I go alone at night to my love-try… It is my own anklets that grow loud at e… When I sit on my balcony and listen for… It is my own heart that beats wildly—I… When my love comes and sits by my side,…
Let your work be, bride. Listen, the g… Do you hear, he is gently shaking the ch… See that your anklets make no loud noise… Let your work be, bride, the guest has c… No, it is not the ghostly wind, bride, d…
Come as you are; do not loiter over your… If your braided hair has loosened, if th… Come as you are; do not loiter over your… Come, with quick steps over the grass. If the raddle come from your feet becaus…
If you would be busy and fill your pitch… The water will cling round your feet and… The shadow of the coming rain is on the… I know well the rhythm of your steps, th… Come, O come to my lake, if you must fi…
I asked nothing, only stood at the edge… Languor was still upon the eyes of the d… The lazy smell of the damp grass hung in… Under the banyan tree you were milking t… And I was standing still.
I was walking by the road, I do not kno… The prone shadows with their out-stretch… The koels were weary of their songs. I was walking by the road, I do not kno… The hut by the side of the water is shad…
I run as a musk-deer runs in the shadow… The night is the night of mid-May, the… I lose my way and I wander, I seek what… From my heart comes out and dances the i… The gleaming vision flits on.
Hands cling to hands and eyes linger on… It is the moonlit night of March; the s… This love between you and me is simple a… Your veil of the saffron colour makes my… The jasmine wreath that you wove me thri…
We both live in the same village and tha… The yellow bird sings in their tree and… Her pair of pet lambs come to graze near… If they stray into our barley field I t… The name of our village is Khanjuna, an…
WHEN the two sisters go to fetch water… They must be aware of somebody who stand… The two sisters whisper to each other wh… They must have guessed the secret of tha… Their pitchers lurch suddenly, and water…
You walked by the riverside path with th… Why did you swiftly turn your face and p… That gleaming look from the dark came up… It came to me like the bird of the eveni… You are hidden as a star behind the hill…
Day after day he comes and goes away. Go, and give him a flower from my hair,… If he asks who was it that sent it, I e… He sits on the dust under the tree. Spread there a seat with flowers and lea…
Why did he choose to come to my door, th… As I come in and out I pass by him ever… I know not if I should speak to him or… The cloudy nights in July are dark; the… He weaves his songs with fresh tunes eve…
When she passed by me with quick steps,… From the unknown island of a heart came… A flutter of a flitting touch brushed me… It fell upon my heart like a sigh of her…
Why do you sit there and jingle your bra… Fill your pitcher. It is time for you… Why do you stir the water with your hand… Fill your pitcher and come home. The morning hours pass by—the dark water…
Do not keep to yourself the secret of yo… Say it to me, only to me, in secret. You who smile so gently, softly whisper,… The night is deep, the house is silent,… Speak to me through hesitating tears, th…
“Come to us, youth, tell us truly why th… “I know not what wine of wild poppy I h… “Ah, shame!” “Well, some are wise and some foolish, s… “Youth, why do you stand so still under…
“What comes from your willing hands I t… “Yes, yes, I know you, modest mendicant… “If there be a stray flower for me I wi… "But if there be thorns?” “I will endure them.”
“Trust love even if it brings sorrow.… “Ah no, my friend, your words are dark,… “The heart is only for giving away with… “Ah no, my friend, your words are dark,… “Pleasure is frail like a dewdrop, while…
Your questioning eyes are sad. They se… I have bared my life before your eyes fr… If it were only a gem I could break it… If it were only a flower, round and smal… But it is a heart, my beloved. Where a…
Speak to me, my love! Tell me in words what you sang. The night is dark. The stars are lost in clouds. The wind is sighing through the leaves. I will let loose my hair. My blue cloa...
You are the evening cloud floating in th… I paint you and fashion you ever with my… You are my own, my own, Dweller in my e… Your feet are rosy-red with the glow of… Your lips are bitter-sweet with the tast…
My heart, the bird of the wilderness, ha… They are the cradle of the morning, they… My songs are lost in their depths. Let me but soar in that sky, in its lone… Let me but cleave its clouds and spread…
Tell me if this be all true, my lover, t… When these eyes flash their lightning th… Is it true that my lips are sweet like t… Do the memories of vanished months of M… Does the earth, like a harp, shiver into…
I love you, beloved. Forgive me my lov… Like a bird losing its way I am caught. When my heart was shaken it lost its vei… If you cannot love me, beloved, forgive… Do not look askance at me from afar.
Do not go, my love, without asking my le… I have watched all night, and now my eye… I fear lest I lose you when I am sleepi… Do not go, my love, without asking my le… I start up and stretch my hands to touch…
Lest I should know you too easily, you… You blind me with flashes of laughter to… I know, I know your art. You never say the word you would. Lest I should not prize you, you elude…
He whispered, “My love, raise your eyes… I sharply chid him, and said “Go!”; but… He stood before me and held both my hand… He brought his face near my ear. I gla… His lips touched my cheek. I trembled…
Would you put your wreath of fresh flowe… But you must know that the one wreath th… It is too late to ask my heart in return… There was a time when my life was like a… Now it is squandered far and wide.
My love, once upon a time your poet laun… Alas, I was not careful, and it struck… It broke up into scraps of songs and lay… All my cargo of the stories of old wars… You must make this loss good to me, my l…
I try to weave a wreath all the morning,… You sit there watching me in secret thro… Ask those eyes, darkly planning mischief… I try to sing a song, but in vain. A hidden smile trembles on your lips, as…
An unbelieving smile flits on your eyes when I come to you to take my leave. I have done it so often that you think I will soon return. To tell you the truth I have the same doubt in my...
I long to speak the deepest words I hav… That is why I laugh at myself and shatt… I make light of my pain, afraid you shou… I long to tell you the truest words I h… That is why I disguise them in untruth,…
O mad, superbly drunk; If you kick open your doors and play the… If you empty your bag in a night, and sn… If you walk in curious paths and play wi… Reck not rhyme or reason;
No, my friends, I shall never be an ascetic, whatever you may say. I shall never be an ascetic if she does not take the vow with me. It is my firm resolve that if I cannot find a shady ...
Reverend sir, forgive this pair of sinne… are blowing in wild eddies, driving dust… and with them your lessons are all lost. Do not say, father, that life is a vanit… For we have made truce with death for on…
To the guests that must go bid God's sp… Take to your bosom with a smile what is… To-day is the festival of phantoms that… Let your laughter be but a meaningless m… Let your life lightly dance on the edges…
You left me and went on your way. I thought I should mourn for you and se… But ah, my evil fortune, time is short. Youth wanes year after year; the spring… Should I neglect all this to gaze after…
If you would have it so, I will end my… If it sets your heart aflutter, I will… If it suddenly startles you in your walk… If it confuses you in your flower-weavin… If it makes the water wanton and wild,…
Free me from the bonds of your sweetness… This mist of heavy incense stifles my he… Open the doors, make room for the mornin… I am lost in you, wrapped in the folds o… Free me from your spells, and give me ba…
I hold her hands and press her to my bre… I try to fill my arms with her lovelines… Ah, but, where is it? Who can strain t… I try to grasp the beauty, it eludes me,… Baffled and weary I come back.
Love, my heart longs day and night for t… Sweep me away like a storm; take everyth… In that devastation, in the utter nakedn… Alas for my vain desire! Where is this…
Then finish the last song and let us lea… Forget this night when the night is no m… Whom do I try to clasp in my arms? Dre… My eager hands press emptiness to my hea…
Why did the lamp go out? I shaded it with my cloak to save it fro… Why did the flower fade? I pressed it to my heart with anxious lo… Why did the stream dry up?
Why do you put me to shame with a look? I have not come as a beggar. Only for a passing hour I stood at the… Why do you put me to shame with a look? Not a rose did I gather from your garde…
Where do you hurry with your basket this… They all have come home with their burde… The echoes of the voices calling for the… Where do you hurry with your basket when… Sleep has laid her fingers upon the eyes…
It was mid-day when you went away. The sun was strong in the sky. I had done my work and sat alone on my b… Fitful gusts came winnowing through the… The doves cooed tireless in the shade, a…
I was one among many women busy with the… Why did you single me out and bring me a… Love unexpressed in sacred. It shines… Ah, you broke through the cover of my he… The other women are the same as ever.
I plucked your flower, O world! I pressed it to my heart and the thorn p… When the day waned and it darkened, I f… More flowers will come to you with perfu… But my time for flower-gathering is over…
One morning in the flower garden a blind… I put it round my neck, and tears came t… I kissed her and said, “You are blind e… You yourself know not how beautiful is y…
O woman, you are not merely the handiwor… Poets are weaving for you a web with thr… The sea gives its pearls, the mines thei… The desire of men's hearts has shed its… You are one half woman and one half drea…
