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...
The assembly is over and my servants are all gone. Why do you come at this late hour? When you have finished with others, that is my time. I come to ask what remains for your last serva...
“Ah, poet, the evening draws near; your hair is turning grey.” “Do you in your lonely musing hear the message of the hereafter?” “It is evening,” the poet said, “and I am listening beca...
In the morning I cast my net into… I dragged up from the dark abyss t… When with the day’s burden I went… I hesitated for a moment, and then… She glanced at them and said, “Wh…
Ah me, why did they build my house… They moor their laden boats near m… They come and go and wander at the… I sit and watch them; my time wear… Turn them away I cannot. And thus…
I am restless. I am athirst for f… My soul goes out in a longing to t… O Great Beyond, O the keen call… I forget, I ever forget, that I h… I am eager and wakeful, I am a st…
The tame bird was in a cage, the f… They met when the time came, it wa… The free bird cries, “O my love,… The cage bird whispers, “Come hit… Says the free bird, “Among bars,…
O mother, the young Prince is to… attend to my work this morning? Show me how to braid up my hair; t… Why do you look at me amazed, moth… I know well he will not glance up…
When the lamp went out by my bed… I sat at my open window with a fre… The young traveller came along the… A pearl chain was on his neck, and… For very shame I could not say, “…
When I go alone at night to my lo… It is my own anklets that grow lou… When I sit on my balcony and list… It is my own heart that beats wild… When my love comes and sits by my…
Let your work be, bride. Listen,… Do you hear, he is gently shaking… See that your anklets make no loud… Let your work be, bride, the guest… No, it is not the ghostly wind, br…
Come as you are; do not loiter ove… If your braided hair has loosened,… Come as you are; do not loiter ove… Come, with quick steps over the gr… If the raddle come from your feet…
If you would be busy and fill your… The water will cling round your fe… The shadow of the coming rain is o… I know well the rhythm of your ste… Come, O come to my lake, if you m…
I asked nothing, only stood at the… Languor was still upon the eyes of… The lazy smell of the damp grass h… Under the banyan tree you were mil… And I was standing still.
I was walking by the road, I do n… The prone shadows with their out-s… The koels were weary of their song… I was walking by the road, I do n… The hut by the side of the water i…
I run as a musk-deer runs in the s… The night is the night of mid-May… I lose my way and I wander, I see… From my heart comes out and dances… The gleaming vision flits on.
Hands cling to hands and eyes ling… It is the moonlit night of March;… This love between you and me is si… Your veil of the saffron colour ma… The jasmine wreath that you wove m…
We both live in the same village a… The yellow bird sings in their tre… Her pair of pet lambs come to graz… If they stray into our barley fiel… The name of our village is Khanju…
WHEN the two sisters go to fetch… They must be aware of somebody who… The two sisters whisper to each ot… They must have guessed the secret… Their pitchers lurch suddenly, and…
You walked by the riverside path w… Why did you swiftly turn your face… That gleaming look from the dark c… It came to me like the bird of the… You are hidden as a star behind th…
Day after day he comes and goes aw… Go, and give him a flower from my… If he asks who was it that sent it… He sits on the dust under the tree… Spread there a seat with flowers a…
Why did he choose to come to my do… As I come in and out I pass by hi… I know not if I should speak to h… The cloudy nights in July are dar… He weaves his songs with fresh tun…
When she passed by me with quick s… From the unknown island of a heart… A flutter of a flitting touch brus… It fell upon my heart like a sigh…
Why do you sit there and jingle yo… Fill your pitcher. It is time fo… Why do you stir the water with you… Fill your pitcher and come home. The morning hours pass by—the dark…
Do not keep to yourself the secret… Say it to me, only to me, in secre… You who smile so gently, softly wh… The night is deep, the house is si… Speak to me through hesitating tea…
“Come to us, youth, tell us truly… “I know not what wine of wild popp… “Ah, shame!” “Well, some are wise and some fool… “Youth, why do you stand so still…
“What comes from your willing hand… “Yes, yes, I know you, modest men… “If there be a stray flower for me… "But if there be thorns?” “I will endure them.”
“Trust love even if it brings sorr… “Ah no, my friend, your words are… “The heart is only for giving away… “Ah no, my friend, your words are… “Pleasure is frail like a dewdrop,…
Your questioning eyes are sad. T… I have bared my life before your e… If it were only a gem I could bre… If it were only a flower, round an… But it is a heart, my beloved. W…
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… I paint you and fashion you ever w… You are my own, my own, Dweller i… Your feet are rosy-red with the gl… Your lips are bitter-sweet with th…
My heart, the bird of the wilderne… They are the cradle of the morning… My songs are lost in their depths. Let me but soar in that sky, in it… Let me but cleave its clouds and s…
Tell me if this be all true, my lo… When these eyes flash their lightn… Is it true that my lips are sweet… Do the memories of vanished months… Does the earth, like a harp, shive…
I love you, beloved. Forgive me… Like a bird losing its way I am c… When my heart was shaken it lost i… If you cannot love me, beloved, fo… Do not look askance at me from afa…
Do not go, my love, without asking… I have watched all night, and now… I fear lest I lose you when I am… Do not go, my love, without asking… I start up and stretch my hands to…
Lest I should know you too easily… You blind me with flashes of laugh… I know, I know your art. You never say the word you would. Lest I should not prize you, you…
He whispered, “My love, raise you… I sharply chid him, and said “Go!… He stood before me and held both m… He brought his face near my ear.… His lips touched my cheek. I tre…
Would you put your wreath of fresh… But you must know that the one wre… It is too late to ask my heart in… There was a time when my life was… Now it is squandered far and wide.
My love, once upon a time your poe… Alas, I was not careful, and it s… It broke up into scraps of songs a… All my cargo of the stories of old… You must make this loss good to me…
I try to weave a wreath all the mo… You sit there watching me in secre… Ask those eyes, darkly planning mi… I try to sing a song, but in vain. A hidden smile trembles on your li…
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… That is why I laugh at myself and… I make light of my pain, afraid yo… I long to tell you the truest word… That is why I disguise them in un…
O mad, superbly drunk; If you kick open your doors and pl… If you empty your bag in a night,… If you walk in curious paths and p… 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 sinners. Spring winds to-day are blowing in wild eddies, driving dust and dead leaves away, For we have made truce with death for once, and only for...
To the guests that must go bid Go… Take to your bosom with a smile wh… To-day is the festival of phantoms… Let your laughter be but a meaning… Let your life lightly dance on the…
You left me and went on your way. I thought I should mourn for you… But ah, my evil fortune, time is s… Youth wanes year after year; the s… Should I neglect all this to gaze…
If you would have it so, I will e… If it sets your heart aflutter, I… If it suddenly startles you in you… If it confuses you in your flower-… If it makes the water wanton and w…
Free me from the bonds of your swe… This mist of heavy incense stifles… Open the doors, make room for the… I am lost in you, wrapped in the f… Free me from your spells, and give…
I hold her hands and press her to… I try to fill my arms with her lov… Ah, but, where is it? Who can st… I try to grasp the beauty, it elud… Baffled and weary I come back.
Love, my heart longs day and night… Sweep me away like a storm; take e… In that devastation, in the utter… Alas for my vain desire! Where i…
Then finish the last song and let… Forget this night when the night i… Whom do I try to clasp in my arms… My eager hands press emptiness to…
Why did the lamp go out? I shaded it with my cloak to save… Why did the flower fade? I pressed it to my heart with anxi… Why did the stream dry up?
Why do you put me to shame with a… I have not come as a beggar. Only for a passing hour I stood a… Why do you put me to shame with a… Not a rose did I gather from your…
Where do you hurry with your baske… They all have come home with their… The echoes of the voices calling f… Where do you hurry with your baske… Sleep has laid her fingers upon th…
It was mid-day when you went away. The sun was strong in the sky. I had done my work and sat alone o… Fitful gusts came winnowing throug… The doves cooed tireless in the sh…
I was one among many women busy wi… Why did you single me out and brin… Love unexpressed in sacred. It s… Ah, you broke through the cover of… The other women are the same as ev…
I plucked your flower, O world! I pressed it to my heart and the t… When the day waned and it darkened… More flowers will come to you with… But my time for flower-gathering i…
One morning in the flower garden a… I put it round my neck, and tears… I kissed her and said, “You are b… You yourself know not how beautifu…
O woman, you are not merely the ha… Poets are weaving for you a web wi… The sea gives its pearls, the mine… The desire of men's hearts has she… You are one half woman and one hal…
