Category Archives: poems

Dusk

The sky is crimson red
The sun has disappeared
The birch has cast a long shadow
Time to plan again… for tomorrow.
Wonder if it’s an irony or a metaphor
He who was born at sunrise bright
Wants to depart in the dying light
Somewhere far from his nest.

Remember

যখন আমার ও-পার থেকে    গেল ডেকে    ভেসেছিলেম ভাঙা ভেলায়।
     আমি যে গান গেয়েছিলেম    জীর্ণ পাতা ঝরার বেলায়॥

I heard the call from the other side
And set sail singing on my broken boat
Remember the song I sang
When the trees were shedding dry leaves.

~ Tagore (lines from ‘Ei Kathati Mone Rekho’ translated by Arun)

Thief

मैं तसव्वुर भी जुदाई का भला कैसे करून?
मैंने किस्मत की लकीरों से चुराया है तुझे

How can I even imagine being separated from you?
Now that I have stolen you from the lines of fate.

~ Qateel Shifai (lines from ‘Zindagi Mein To Sabhi’ translated by Arun)

Soulmates

I hear the evening breeze
Murmuring through the trees
Whispering a story, perhaps…
Untold, unheard, from a time lapse.
Of two birds those flew together
Till one disappeared in a stormy night.
Devastated, another took to the pyre;
God, moved, offered eternal delight.
“Show my love once”, cried its soul
“I will give up heaven, burn in hell”.
The wind stops, an uneasy silence
And a bird gazing up at my terrace.