My Trans-creations of Two Poems of Tagore

Prof Laksmisree trans-creates two well-known songs of Rabindranath Tagore from his prem (love) and puja (prayer/divinity) series. A tribute to Gurudev, as Special Feature, exclusively for Different Truths.

On his 160^th birth anniversary, our homage to Gurudev Tagore is universal, being celebrated at all Tagore Centres across the globe. His Humanism, Naturalism, Universalism in having covered every minuscule of our being, becoming and beyonding has soaked into the kernel of not just Bengalis but the soul of our entire human world. Our Bardolatry is based in truth about the ageless validity of Tagore’s philosophy as a singular panacea for our conflict-ridden world.

He has encompassed the entire gamut of human emotions and actions in his spectacular writings, music, and art in every possible genre of creativity. I offer my Pranam to Gurudev, the Seer-Poet and Mentor of our world through my trans-creations of two of his poems from Prem (love) and Puja (divinity/prayer) series, which exude the sparkle of his cosmic consciousness.

‘Mone Ki Didha Rekhe Gele Chole’ (From Tagore’s Prem or Love Series) 

What is that unsaid longing,
that folded qualm, the reluctance
within your heart, which you kept
from me that evening while departing
in the muted colours of twilight?
 
What is that untold word enfolded
that confession you wished
to make but did not, as you
turned your face once more to
look back at me while going away?
 
I could see that cryptic smile
and flicker in your eyes while
I sat in rumination with a heavy,
trembling heart, still believing in
your presence in a distant universe.
 
My agony remains alive yet
in the company of the flying birds
across the skies, wishing again
to ask you for those hidden words
to unmask your deepest feelings.
 
I still remain frozen in that moment
when you suddenly left me
with my injury in fond remembrance,
imbued forever in the fragrance of
   the silent pain of the Juthi flowers. 

Je Rathe More Duar Guli (From Tagore’s Puja or Divinity/Prayer Series)

That dark night when the storm broke in
crashing open my gates
I knew not about your silent tip-toeing
across my threshold
into my home
 
When the fearful blackness engulfed all
burning out my lighted lamps
I knew not who I looked for while
I raised my folded hands
Upward in prayer
 
As I lay breathless in the dark
perhaps in dream or in nightmare
I knew not that the tempest
bore your proud banner, the harbinger
of your coming
 
Till you awakened me in the morning
with your shining presence
while your arrival
fulfilled me within the emptiness
of my ravaged heart
 

Visuals by Different Truths