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...
