Bho'e cher'e o'nto're de'kh-ভয় ছেড়ে অন্তরে দ্যাখ্-To Look, with Love, Within

ভয় ছেড়ে অন্তরে দ্যাখ্ 

যে দেশে জন্ম, যে দেশে মরণ,

যে দেশে সফর, বাসা—

সে সব দেশে, ক্ররতার সাথে,

বয়েছে ভালবাসা।

দুটোই দেখেছি, দুটোই ছুঁয়েছি,

দুটোর-ই করেছি পান।

ক্রমশ বুঝেছি, প্রতি দেশেই

দুটোর-ই ভাটা ও বান। 

  

****** 

যেমন শত্রু, যেমন মিত্র, 

বুঝেছে কবীর-রুমি,

শুখ-দুঃখে, বাসনা-ব্যথায়,

তেমন-ই আমি-তুমি।

রাতের শেষে, ভোরের আলো,

সাঁঝের শেষে রাত—

এ ভাবে আসে, এ ভাবে যায়

জীবন, শাসন, জাত। 

****** 

নেই কোনো নিচু, নেই কোনো উঁচু,

আছে শুধু আসা-যাওয়া, তাই—

শান্তিতে এসে, শান্তিতে থেকে,

শান্তিতে যাওয়া যেনো পাই।

নেই কোনো বেড়া, নেই কোনো পর—

অন্তরে-অন্তরে এক।

তাই ব’লি তোরে, ‘হৃদয়ের আঁখে

ভয় ছেড়ে অন্তরে দ্যাখ্’।

বুধবার, ১৩ই নভেম্বর, ২০২৪ খ্রি.

বার্ক্লি, কালিফর্নিয়া 

--------------------------------------------

To Look, with Love, Within

The land of birth, the land of death,

The lands of journeys, ends:

In all these lands, the rivers flow—

Of cruelty and care.

I’ve seen and felt their presence, yes—

I’ve tasted both their waters.

In every land, I’ve realized, 

These rivers ebb and surge.

******

As with the foe, so with the friend—

As Kabir and as Rumi had seen—

In joy and in war, in pleasure and pain, 

So also with me and with you.

At the end of the night, the light of dawn;

At the end of the dusk, the dark.

And so they come, and so they go—

The lives and the reigns and the species. 

******

There’s neither a higher or lower, my friend—

There’s only the coming and going. 

Arriving in peace, remaining in peace,

In peace let us die and depart. 

There’s neither a “self” nor an “other”—no,

In essence, we each are the same.

Let us leave aside fear and venture to dare

To look then, with love, within.

2024, Nov. 13, Wed.

(transl. from Bengali to English, Nov.16)

Berkeley, California

Cars and Cannons-Mars and Mammon

 
Cars and Cannons / Mars and Mammon
 
Tweedledum and Tweedledee 
Are running neck to neck.
And Tweedledum says Tweedledee
Is out to ruin and wreck
The nation. Tweedledee, in turn,
Repeats the selfsame charge,
Saying, “Everything will burn
With Tweedledum in charge.”
 
We’re forced to choose between the two
Or find a better third,
Or simply sit and sadly rue
The spectacle absurd—
As Mammon sits on high and laughs,
And Mars conducts his wars,
And Venus smiles beguilingly
To sell us those—and cars.

******
 
The lies go uncontested by;
It’s all about the show.
The Tweedledums, the Tweedledees—
They come, they strut, they go.
We're so distracted by the games,
As Mars and Mammon thrive,
That those surviving what these do

Are sorry they’re alive—

For no one cares, as weapons flow,

Like water does, to wars,

And profits flow, in torrents too,

As Mammon rides on Mars.

So children, women, scream and die

Or silently depart—

As some are buried, some are burned

And others blown apart.

******

 
So those, who’re better off, advise,
“Go pour yourself a drink!
Or go and buy an SUV.
It’s time you paused to think:
The indices will rise and fall,
And millions more will die,
As those who seek and tell the truth
Are humbled by the lie.”
 
The gods of War and Commerce rule
As all of us bow down,
And she who stands is thought a fool
And run right out of town
Or suffers fates much worse than that
As the kings of new do battle,
While bowing still to the ruling gods
And herding us like cattle.

******
 
So cars and cannons still are sold
And we can hear them roaring.
The prices of their shares and stocks
Will yet again be soaring
As Tweedledees and Tweedledums
Distract, yet more, the masses,
And all of us remain as sheep
Or bray with pride like asses.
 
And some are worse, some better, yes.
We choose the lesser evil,
While plants can only yield to both
The locust and the weevil.
One eats the whole; the others snacks
On sap and seeds and leaves.
We humans? One, who reasons, smacks
His head, as one believes. 
 
2024 July 5th, Fri.
Berkeley, California
 

Biden’s Bombs-War and Money

.
Biden’s Bombs / War and Money
.
Biden’s bombs, Biden’s bombs—
Two thousand pounds apiece—
They blow the kids to smithereens, 
And serve to keep the peace.
.
If Trump returns, he’ll send more bombs 
To Israel and say,
“We’ll send them to the Saudis too, 
If they agree to pay.”
.
And hearing all the folk who shout
That this is genocide 
And fearing that in politics
This might be suicide,
.
Biden, Blinken both declare,
“We need to end the strife.”
But keep on sending bombs and planes
To end what's left of life.
.
******
.
War and money, war and money—
Whatever be the weather—
You’ll find that each provides for each. 
They always go together.
.
We've made our zones of peace, within
Their circles wide or small,
Where business booms. Outside the zones,
We find the free-for-all.
.
And that is where our bombs are dropped—
And conflicts are inflamed,
As money drives the wheels of war, 
And “terrorists” are blamed.
.
Wealth and power, wealth and power,
Unabated greed:
Death and dread and suffering—
These are what they feed.
.
******
.
Religion and democracy—
It’s not about that stuff.
It’s all about the land, the oil…
We’ll never have enough.
.
So don’t believe the evening news;
It’s sadly filled with lies.
When eyes and minds and hearts are blind,
Then truth, with justice, dies.
.
“Why should we care for Palestine
And people far away?
But Israel is different!”
Is what the people say.
.
But Biden's bombs are ours too. 
Our taxes pay for those.
The Congo, Yemen, South Sudan?
They aren't far. They're close.
.
2024 May 22nd, Wed.
Berkeley, California
.

The Madness

The Madness

We humans think so highly of ourselves—
And yet we trap ourselves in madnesses 
Of various sorts—and some are recognized 
And others not—as each in turn is praised

And then reviled and cast aside—and then
Revived, in force, to blight our lives again. 
We recognize a body's illness, but 
Ignore or serve collective madnesses. 

****** 

The quest for money drives the world we’ve made.
It rules our lives and colors all we see.
Our minds are trained to function through its rules—
And those who can’t or won’t are seen as fools.

To question this pursuit is heresy.
Some shed religion, only to adopt
This faith in money. Mammon rules on high
And governs what we think and say and do.

****** 

And who can blame the ones who play the game
And find in wealth and all it yields no shame—
Or those, for whom the cash they slave to earn
Is what sustains their selves and those they love?

But could the rules and so the play be changed 
To ease the lives of humans under stress—
And save our species from the fate that we
Have sent so many others to, in haste?

****** 

The world of Nature isn’t filled, we see,
With love and peace alone; these do exist—
Along with predators that stalk their prey,
And parasites that feed upon their hosts.

We humans are a part of Nature, so
There is, in us, a mix of all these things.
We still have power, though, to bend our lives
Towards what is sane—or towards insanity.

****** 

Some say, “The world is what it was and is—
And always will be. Let it go its way
And mind your business. Tend to self and kin
Or find your peace by seeking what’s within.”

But others say “The tides that rage and flow
Are made by humans, who’ve been led astray.
Unless this madness ends—this wild stampede—
Our kind, like others, will be swept away.”

****** 

The ones who halt—or slow too much—within 
A charging crowd are trampled under foot—
Until awareness spreads and one by one
We slow the race and so the spreading blight.

I’ve found no answer to the issues raised,
Nor any means to ease the plight we’re in. 
I only ask that humans recognize
This illness grave—that blights the world we’re in.

2022 October 2nd, Sun.
Brooklyn, New York

T'akar Dho'nda-টাকার ধন্দা

 
টাকার ধন্দা
 
টাকা-পয়সা, আইন-কানুন, 
সংসার আর বাণিজ্যের জট—
আমার মাথায় ঢোঁকে নি আগে,
আজও ঢোঁকে না, ভাই।
 
খেটে রোজগার করেছি সদা।
নিই নি কখনো ধার।
খর্চে বা কিপ্টে হই নি আমি। *
যেটা পাই, সেটা খাই।
 
মেনেছি আইন। দিয়েছি ট্যাক্স,
ভাড়া, মাসিক মূল্য।
আয় যে শুধু চাকরির থেকে।
পুঁজিটা বাড়ে নি  তাই। 
 
টাকার ধন্দা বুঝি নি আমি। 
সঞ্চয় করি নি ধন।
তাইতো আজ, কড়ি বাজারে,
ধমকানিটা খাই।
 
বুড়ো বয়সে নড়েছে টনক।
টাকাকে নমাই রোজ।
গ্রাহ্য করে না আমাকে তাও।
সময় হয়েছে, যাই।
 
এমন ভেবে, আবার ভাবি— 
জীবন-মরণ নয়।
যতই টাকা কামাই, জমাই,
সব-ই শেষে ছাই।
 
বৃহস্পতিবার, ১ সেপ্টেম্বর, ২০২২ খ্রি. 
বার্ক্লি, ক্যলিফোর্নিয়া
 

* খর্চে [खोर्चे]: খরচে: spendthrift

   কিপ্টে: কিপটে: miser, scrooge

Does Money Rule?

   
Does Money Rule?
 
“Money rules the world that ‘men’ have made.”
And who among us can resist its sway?
And yet, does money have a body, mind—
Or sense of self? It's truly men who rule—
Along with women—in proportion less
By far than what their even share could be.
 
So men (and women—some) with money rule.
The rest of us are “subjects” of these kings
(Or queens, at times)—and subject to their wills.
The pound and rifle, dollar teamed with bomb—
And now perhaps some other pairings too—
Are instruments by which our masters rule.
 
******
 
Are poorer people richer than the rich
In virtue? Do the rich have more of vice?
That's hard to say. It could be true—or not.
Wealth and power—these go hand in hand,
Magnifying vice and virtue, both.
The rich have potence that the others don't.
 
No matter. Money does not rule the world;
The ones with money—they're the ones who do,
For better or for worse. The issue is:
No ruler could exist without the ruled.
In this, we've mostly been completely fooled.
So kings were deified—as magnates are.
 
2022 August 26^th, Fri.
Berkeley, California