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 160th 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
Prof. (Dr.) Laksmisree Banerjee, a poet, critic, vocalist, educationist with national and international publications & awards, is a Senior Fulbright Scholar & Professor in English, Commonwealth Scholar, National Scholar from Calcutta University, India, UGC Post-Doctoral Research Awardee and a Former Vice Chancellor. She has lectured in premier universities, recited her poems & Indian Music in literary festivals & international conferences across the globe. Widely anthologised, she has five books of poetry and several academic publications. She is our regional representative of East India: West Bengal and Jharkhand.
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Went through yours, Sree the transcreations of Tagore’s Bangla poems..they were some rare gems of Tagore’s poems unknown to me… how the poetic heart throbs seeking meanings of the fading twilight, the one casting a longing, lingering look behind, loaded with the unspoken, unsaid.. how in the second one the great Bard describes agony of the dark night one had traversed to wake up to a morn of fulfilment filling up every pore of emptiness within.
So deep these poems go exploring the true spiritual
undercurrents. You have brought it out so well through your excellent transcreation.
Kudos, Sree..