In the second part of Bengali folk songs, Prof Sonjoy, captures the haunting melody of the boatman’s song, in this verse, exclusively for Different Truths.
O you blue infinite waters
Carry me back in the ebb of your waves
Pick me in your homeward flow
As captive in the glitter and glow
My heart, a caged bird, for freedom craves.
Craves for the home where my love awaits
Where the blue of the sky and the water mates
Where the waves lap, dance and merge
With the departing sun’s refracted trails.
The high tide carried me far and away
From land to land, port to port, I made my way
Set anchor here set anchor there
Lost touch of time, when and where
Till separated from my waiting love
My heart in its cage, caught in the snare
Exhausted after the wear and tear,
Cried silently, day and night.
Carry me back, o ebb tide wave
In the powerful beat
Of your returning might.
Poet’s Note: “Bhata” is the ebb of the tide in Bangla.. and Bhatiali is the ebbtide song, the boatman’s song of Bengal, sung to the Supreme Boatman steering us across the tricky waters of life.
Photo from the Internet
Prof Sonjoy Dutta Roy retired as Professor/Head, Department of English, Dean of Arts, and Coordinator of Centres for Theatre/Films and Media Studies at the University of Allahabad. Senior Fulbright Visiting Professor at UC Berkeley, Fellow at Louisiana State University, and UGC Visiting Fellow at Jadavpur University. His papers on theatre/poetry featured in leading journals. Over three decades, he directed Indian/American plays and lectured at UC Berkeley, UConn, Tufts, and more. Poetry collections: The Absent Words (1998), Into Grander Space (2005), Diary Poems (2012), and the forthcoming Of Blood and Book. Poems shortlisted by the British Council, the Poetry Society of India, Chandrabhaga, and Kavya Bharti. He is our National Editor: Academics.
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