Beloved, Where Are You?

Beloved, Where Are You?

The sun is warm upon the skin,
The sky is blazing blue,
And I am walking in the sun
And thinking still of you.

The little birds are chirping as
They fly from tree to tree,
And feelings, long held captive, now
Are rising, wild and free.

The winter has departed and
The spring is here to stay.
It seems that we were walking in
The spring, but yesterday.

The trees are dancing in the breeze,
As they had danced before.
But you, who’d stood and smiled at these,
Are now with us no more.

The greens of newborn leaves are flames
That rise towards the blue.
The sky and earth are singing—yet,
Beloved, where are you?

2018 May 24th, Thu.
Brooklyn, New York
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Note: Any connections that such hinted romances may have with the scribe's own life (which has been mostly ordinary and unromantic) are tenuous at best. 
  

I Met my Darling at the Start of Spring

So Is It Spring?

https://thedailypoet.blogspot.com/2018/04/so-is-it-spring.html
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I Met my Darling at the Start of Spring
 
I met my darling at the start of spring
And dallied with her till I tired of it.
And then I killed her, so I could again
Have other darlings, till I waned in wit.

But then I met another lissome lass,
Who reeled me in as if I were a catch,
Then struck me hard and set my heart aflame,
And tossed me off, as if I were a match.

And so I perished and was born again,
Forgetting all my sins and suffering.
And growing then to youth and middle age,
I looked to fall, while looking back at spring.

And summer, winter and the seasons all
Of all my lives appeared to coalesce.
And those I’d wounded, those who’d wounded me—
Were none, I saw, but I—no more, no less.

2018 May 4th, Fri.
Brooklyn, New York  
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
So Is It Spring?

https://thedailypoet.blogspot.com/2018/04/so-is-it-spring.html

  

The Gems Within Your Eyes

The Gems Within Your Eyes

In your eyes, I saw the diamond—
in your eyes, I saw the pearl,
the amethyst, the emerald—
that said you were my girl.

And red might be the ruby,
and blue the sapphire’s fire,
but all their colors faded
beside my deep desire.

In your eyes I saw my Venus—
my dream of Aphrodite.
I only saw your eyes then,
though you were in your nightie.

Although we might have quarreled
when the stars had brought us close,
when they chose to separate us,
I could see beyond my nose.

And I could see your eyes then,
that twinkled from afar,
as I’d seen them flash and sparkle,
when you briefly were my star.

2017 March 18th, Sat.
Brooklyn, New York

  

What Chance

What Chance

You were waiting by a doorway
for the bus—and smiled at me.
And I at first ignored this—
until you came to mind.
I only then responded—
but your eyes were smiling still.

   

And later, you had dropped by,
for half an hour or so.
Our hands had touched, so briefly—
with a current passing through.

For a quarter of a century,
I have seen you come and go—
so near and yet so distant—
and always in my mind.

There’s a bond that long has linked us,
in the strangest kind of way.
It has kept us always tethered,
but always still apart.

I have seen your bloom, your fading.
I have memorized your face—
the curving of your eyelids—
your planes and shapes and shades.
 
There were dreams I had of holding
your form within my arms—
and I always then dismissed these
as idle thoughts that passed.
I even dreamt we had kissed, once,
but I smiled—and said, “What chance!”
 
2017 January 27th, Fri.
Brooklyn, New York
   

Dur Theke Prem--দূর থেকে প্রেম

এটা শুধু একটা কাব্যিক রোমান্স, আমার নিজের সাধারণ জীবন যাপন থেকে খুবি দূরে৷
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The earlier recording has been replaced by a slightly better one.
 

This might not be available on mobile phones and some networks.
To hear the audio recording in Google's Chrome browser:
  1) first, click the triangular play button on the right, above;
  2) then click either:
    a) that button again to play the audio in the background (on this page);
    or
    b) the rectangular button on the left, above, for audio at the Vocaroo site.
The procedure in other browsers might be slightly different.

Record music and voice with Vocaroo >>
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দূর থেকে প্রেম

আহা, সুন্দরী! দেখেছি তোমারে
দূর থেকে, পড়েছি প্রেমে৷
যা কিছু বলার, তোমার চাহনে
রয়েছে কন্ঠে থেমে৷

মুগ্ধ হয়েছি তোমার দৃশ্যে,
ভক্ত হয়েছি আমি৷
গেয়েছি কীর্তন, এতদিন ধরে,
জানিনা কি করে থামি৷

বলেছি নিজেকে, মর্ত নারীকে
করেছ মনে মনে দেবী৷
এ পাপের কারণে, ভুগবে৷ তবুও
নমেছি তোমারে, দেবী৷
  
নিরাকার গুরুর গুণগান গেয়ে,
মাথা নত করে যে,
বুঝবে কি কখনো প্রেমের ধর্ম,
যতই উদার সে?
  
মাটি থেকে বানানো প্রতিমায়, উপোসে,
অঞ্জলি দেয় যারা,
সইবে কি, তাই বলে, আমার দেবীকে,
যতই মেনেছে তারা?
  
চুপিচুপি কেবল গেয়েছি গীতি৷
লুকিয়ে করেছি পূজো৷
তোমার পায়ের ধূলি, ও প্রিয়া,
চুমিয়ে হয়েছি দ্বিজ৷

দেখোনি আমার মর্মে, তুমি
শোনোনি আমার গান৷
জানো নি তোমার চাঁদের মুখের
জোয়ারভাটার টান৷ 
  
নিমেষের হাতের স্পর্শে অথবা
চোখের মিলনে যখনো
জ্বলেছে বিদ্যুৎ, বুকে ও অঙ্গে,
স্তব্ধ রয়েছি তখনো৷

যদি কোনো দিন মনে পড়ে সেই
ইতস্ততঃ আমার,
হেসেও তখন ক্ষমা কোরো একে—
এই দ্বিধা ভরা প্রেমিক তোমার৷

রবিবার, ৫ই জুন, ২০১৬ খ্রি
(চতুর্থ, পঞ্চম ও অষ্টম স্তবক: বৃহস্পতিবার, ৯ জুন)
ব্রুক্লিন, নিউয়র্ক

   

দূরের থেকে প্রেম—Durer Theke Prem—Romance from Afar

 
These ditties are fiction.  My own experiences in the field of romantic love have been very limited, but I seem to be making up for that in these amours I am spinning in my dotage.

I seem to be doing this spinning, in the main, in two languages.  There might be some significance in that—or not.

One of these languages is my mother tongue, Bangla (Bengali).  My formal education in this language was poor and interrupted, and my reading in it has been very limited.  So my Bengali vocabulary remains, to a large extent, at the level of a student in elementary school.

The other language, English, was once, along with troops, armaments and more, a vehicle of colonial rule in my land of birth.  It is also the primary language of the country I have lived in for the past forty years.  But I still have my strong native accent and I still have to struggle to pronounce English words in either of the two main standard ways.  That is a handicap indeed when venturing to write poetry.

Nevertheless, here's yet more of the froth.

Once again, I have provided, following the piece in the traditional Bengali script, two Roman transcriptions (this time, with Google's version first) and then a translation into English.
---------------------------------------
 
দূরের থেকে প্রেম

দূরের থেকে ভালবাসা,
দূরের থেকে প্রেম —
রইবে কি সে বছর ধরে?
বল আমায়,  মেম৷

মাঝে মাঝে চোখাচোখি,
মাঝে মৃদু হাসি,
এই দিয়ে কি চলবে গাড়ি?
কহ,  প্রাচ্যবাসী৷

টানতে হবে, ঠেলতে হবে,
নইলে যাবে থেমে৷
সকল দেশে, পথের ওপর
খাটনি আছে,  প্রেমে৷

উত্তরে যাও, দক্ষিনে যাও,
পশ্চিমে বা পূর্বে,
ততই কথা সত্যি হবে,
যতই দূরে ঘুরবে৷

দূরের থেকে, প্রেমের বাঁধন
হবে ক্রমে ক্ষয়৷
ভালবাসা পেতে, সখী,
দিতেও কিছু হয়৷

বিকেল ৫:৩৪, শুক্রবার 
৩রা জুন, ২০১৫ খ্রি
ব্রুক্লিন, নিউয়র্ক 
---------------------------------------

The Roman transcription directly below was obtained via http://google.com/translate.  I have lightly edited this "machine transcription".  This was done mainly to remove unnecessary short a's (those that should not be pronounced) and to put in capitalization and periods that had been left out.

Those who are not familiar with this transcription scheme, but wish to use it to learn (or at least correctly pronounce) Bengali, might want to read the note at the very end of the post at http://thedailypoet.blogspot.com/2015/07/beside-seaxagor-tire-sagar-tire.html.
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Dūrēr Thēkē Prēm

Dūrēr thēkē bhālabāsā,
dūrēr thēkē prēm—
ra'ibē ki sē bachar dharē?
Bala āmāẏ, mēm.

Mājhē mājhē cōkhācōkhi,
mājhē mr̥du hāsi,
Ē'i diẏē ki calbē gāṛi?
Kaha, prācyabāsī.

ṭāntē habē, ṭhēltē habē,
na'ilē yābē thēmē
Sakal dēśē, pathēr ōpar
khāṭni āchē, prēmē.

Uttarē yā'ō, dakṣinē yā'ō,
paścimē bā pūrbē,
tata'i kathā satyi habē,
yata'i dūrē ghurbē.

Dūrēr thēkē, prēmēr bām̐dhan
habē kramē kṣaẏ.
Bhālabāsā pētē, sakhī,
ditē'ō kichu haẏ.

bikēl 5:34, Śukrabār 
3rā Jun, 2015 khri
Bruklin, Ni'uẏark
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The transcription scheme used below is my own and is briefly summarized at http://thedailypoet.blogspot.com/2014/02/bharot-xadhin-indias-freedom.html.
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Durer Theke Prem
  
Durer theke bhalobaxa,
durer theke prem—
roibe ki xe bo`chor dhore?
Bo`lo amae, mem.

Majhe majhe cokhacokhi,
majhe mridu haxi,
ei die ki colbe gar’i?
Ko`ho, praccobaxi.

T’ante ho`be, t’helte ho`be,
Noile jabe theme.
Xo`kol dexe, po`ther opor
khat’ni ache, preme.

Uttore jao, dokkhine jao,
poxcime ba purbe,
to`toi ko`tha xotti ho`be,
jo`toi dure ghurbe.

Durer theke, premer ba~dhon
ho`be kro`me kho`e.
Bhalobaxa pete, xokhi,
diteo kichu ho`e.

bikel 5:34, Xukrubar
3ra Jun, 2015 khri
Bruklin, Niu Io`rk
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Below this is a translation of the poem into English. In all but a few lines, the translation is fairly literal.   However, those attempting to decipher the Bengali from the translation should be warned that word-order in Bengali is radically different from that in English.

This is true, not only for Bengali, but for most Indian languages, and indeed, most Asian ones, (with the Sinic, Malay and Mon-Khmer tongues being notable exceptions) relative to most European languages (with Turkish and some of the Samoyedic and Uralic languages being the main exceptions to the European ordering).

In particular, postpositions are used rather than prepositions, and the standard word order is subject-object-verb, rather than subject-verb-object as is standard in most of Europe.  However, thanks to case-endings (usually case-postpositions), there is considerable flexibility in the word order, be this for emphasis or for other effect. This is a boon when writing in rhythmic verse.
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Romance from Afar

The love that is from far away,
The warm, imagined kiss—
Can this remain, for years and years?
Do tell me, western miss.

The eyes that meet from time to time,
The shy and furtive smile—
Will this sustain, dear eastern maid,
Love’s train, for mile and mile?

Without the pull and push, the train
Will slow and then will stop.
In every land, there’s labor on
The tracks, for every love.

Go north or south or west or east.
You’ll find it’s always true.
The more you wander from your love,
The more the loss you’ll rue.

The distance wears away, in time,
The ties that let it live.
To get of love, my dearest, you
Will also have to give.

5:34 pm, Friday
June 3, 2015
Brooklyn, New York
  

Beside the Sea—Xagor Tire—সাগর তীরে—Sāgar Tīrē

 
This is a curious piece, with some archaisms that might seem incongruous.  It is followed by a translation into Bengali, which is in three versions:

1. firstly, in my own strange Roman transcription scheme, which follows the pronunciation rather than the standard spelling, as was briefly summarized in the preface at http://thedailypoet.blogspot.com/2014/02/bharot-xadhin-indias-freedom.html ; 
2. secondly, in the beautiful traditional Bengali script, attempting to reproduce the the standard spelling;  
3. and finally, in the Roman transcription (which I will refer to as the "machine transcription") provided by the software program at http://google.com/translate.  A note on this transcription can be found at the very end of the current post.

Hopefully, these three versions, taken together with the English original, might be of some assistance to those attempting to learn Bengali.  However, for those with little or no prior knowledge of Bengali, nor of other Indian languages, a word-for-word translation might be needed, as the word-order is radically different between English and most Indian languages.  I have not provided this here.

It is often difficult to translate a poem in a literal fashion. But in this case, much (though not all) of the translation is quite literal, without, hopefully, too much harm to the sensibilities. Some might say that this is because of the seemingly absurd nature of the content. Nonsense translated literally might at times make just as fine a nonsense as the original!  Protesting feebly, I will leave you to judge.
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Beside the Sea

When waves reflect the sun at noon
Or dance beneath the shining moon,
Beside the broad and shimmering sea,
I walk and watch and wait for thee.

When seagulls flee before the squall,
To thee, across the waves, I call.
When swells are heaving in the dark,
Thine answer comes.  I turn and hark.
 
But then I ask, “Is that the wind?”
So heaven tortureth those who’ve sinned.
Yet, unrepentant still, I cry,
“The gods’ commandments, I defy!”

******
  
As ants that crawl upon the land,
Can humans ever understand
The deep, the vast, the endless sea,
With all her trove of mystery?

How stormy was the sea that day,
When I saw thee go thy way.
But even when she's still, I see
Her whim hath cruelly taken thee.

******
    
By fortune met and separated,
Are those, who might perhaps have mated,
If chance and destiny had turned
And what the gods decreed had spurned.
 
And so, to where I last had seen thee,
On that day so gray and windy,
I return—to seek and pine,
By that shore, where thou wast mine.

At sunrise, when the air is chill,
Beside the sea, I’m walking still,
As I had been at sunset time,
With thoughts of thee—and this, my rhyme.
 
2015 June 21st, Mon., 6:57 pm
Gravesend Bay, Brooklyn, New York
(translated into Bengali, July 1st, Wed.)
--------------------------------------------------------
 
Xagor Tire

Dupurer roder nice, rater ca~der aloe,
nace jo`khon xari xari d’heu,
ha~ti to`khon bixal, jhikmike xomudrer tire,
tomar o`pekkhae.

Xo`nkocil jo`khon palae jho`r’er theke,
to`khon tir theke d’aki tomae.
Rater o`ndhokare, d’heuer xaxer majhe,
Xuni je`no dure, tomar jo`bab.

To`be bhabi to`khon, “Ot’a ki haoa?”
Papir pir’o`n—nixt’hur debder xasti et’a!
Nachor’ ami, c~echie ut’hi tai,
“Manbo na ko`khono, tomader dabi!”
 
******

Pi~pr’er moto d’angae he~t’e be`r’ae manux.
Tara ki ko`beo bujhbe eke?
Ei gobhir, o`xim, o`par mo`haxagor?
Ei dha~dha-he~yali bho`ra mo`hol?

Jho`rer majhe gele tumi
ei xagorer buke.
Xagor jo`khon xanto, to`khon
tao to dekhi xet’a.

******
   
Je ko`pale jeta, xei ko`palei har!

Kon po`the je xanti chilo, dut’i be`lar xukh,

Janbo na go, janbo na go,
Janbo na go ta.

Ei o`kul, obiram xagorer tire,
pe-e-o, har’ie chilam tomae.
Tai to barbar axi—rate, dine.
Bhabi, tumi e`khon kothae?

Xondhe be`lae xurjo d’obe,
bhor be`late ot’he.
Dui belatei, tomar kho~je,
ha~t’i, xagor tire.

xondhe 6:57,  Xombar, 29e Jun
Grevzend’ Be, Bruklin, Niu Io`rk
(Banglae onubad, Budhbar, 1la Julai)
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সাগর তীরে
  
দুপুরের রোদের নীচে, রাতের চাঁদের আলোয়,
নাচে যখন সারি সারি ঢেউ,
হাঁটি তখন বিশাল, ঝিক্মিকে সমুদ্রের তীরে,
তোমার অপেক্ষায়৷ 

শঙ্খচিল যখন পালায় ঝড়ের থেকে,
তখন তীর থেকে ডাকি তোমায়৷
রাতের অন্ধকারে, ঢেউ এর শ্বাসের মাঝে,
শুনি যেন দূরে, তোমার জবাব৷
  
তবে ভাবি তখন, "ওটা কি হাওয়া"?
পাপীর  পীড়ন—নিষ্ঠুর দেবদের শাস্তি এটা!
নাছোড় আমি, চেঁচিয়ে উঠি তাই,
"মানবো না কখনো, তোমাদের দাবি!"

****** 

পিঁপড়ের মত ডাঙায় হেঁটে বেড়ায় মানুষ৷
তারা কি কবেও বুঝবে একে?
এই গভীর, অসীম, অপার মহাসাগর?
এই ধাঁধা-হেঁয়ালি ভরা মহল?
  
ঝড়ের মাঝে গেলে তুমি
এই সাগরের বুকে৷
সাগর যখন শান্ত, তখন
তাও ত দেখি সেটা৷
   
****** 
 
যে কপালে জেতা, সেই কপালেই হার!
কোন পথে যে শান্তি ছিল, দুটি বেলার সুখ,
জানব না গো, জানব না গো,
জানব না গো তা৷
    
এই অকূল, অবিরাম সাগরের তীরে,
পেয়েও, হারিয়েছিলাম তোমায়৷
তাই ত বারবার আসি—রাতে, দিনে৷
ভাবি, তুমি এখন কোথায়?

সন্ধ্যে বেলায় সূর্য় ডোবে,
ভোর বেলাতে ওঠে৷
দুই বেলাতেই, তোমার খোঁজে,
হাঁটি, সাগর তীরে৷
  
সন্ধ্যে ৬:৫৭, সোমবার, ২৯এ জুন
গ্রেভ্সেণ্ড বে, ব্রুক্লিন, নিউয়র্ক
(বাংলায় অনুবাদ, বুধবার, ১লা জুলাই)
--------------------------------------------------------

Directly below is the "machine transcription" (from http://google.com/translate)
of the verses in Bengali script directly above.  A note on this machine transcription has been added at the end of the post.  I have lightly edited the transcription, as described at the start of that note.
--------------------------------------------------------

  

Sāgar Tīrē

Dupurēr rōdēr nīcē, rātēr cām̐dēr ālōẏ,
nācē yakhan sāri sāri ḍhē'u,
hām̐ṭi takhan biśāl, jhikmikē samudrēr tīrē,
tōmār apēkṣāẏ.

Śaṅkhacil yakhan pālāẏ jhaṛēr thēkē,
takhan tīr thēkē ḍāki tōmāẏ.
Rātēr andhakārē, ḍhē'u ēr śbāsēr mājhē,
Śuni yēna dūrē, tōmār jabāb.

Tabē bhābi takhan, "Ōṭā ki hā'ōẏā"?
Pāpīr pīṛan—niṣṭhur dēbdēr śāsti ēṭā!
Nāchōṛ āmi, cēm̐ciẏē uṭhi tā'i,
"mānbō nā kakhanō, tōmādēr dābi!"

******

Pim̐pṛēr mata ḍāṅāẏ hēm̐ṭē bēṛāẏ mānuṣ.
Tārā ki kabē'ō bujhbē ēkē?
Ē'i gabhīr, asīm, apār mahāsāgar?
Ē'i dhām̐dhā-hēm̐ẏāli bharā mahal?

Jhaṛēr mājhē gēlē tumi
ē'i sāgarēr bukē.
Sāgar yakhan śānta, takhan
tā'ō ta dēkhi sēṭā.

  

******
    
Yē kapālē jētā, sē'i kapālē'i hār!
Kōn pathē yē śānti chila, duṭi bēlār sukh,
jānba nā gō, jānba nā gō,
jānba nā gō tā.

Ē'i akūl, abirām sāgarēr tīrē,
pēẏē'ō, hāriẏēchilām tōmāẏ.
Tā'i ta bārbār āsi—rātē, dinē.
Bhābi, tumi ēkhan kōthāẏ?

Sandhyē bēlāẏ sūrẏa ḍōbē,
bhōr bēlātē ōṭhē.
Du'i bēlātē'i, tōmār khōm̐jē,
hām̐ṭi, sāgar tīrē.

Sandhyē 6:57, Sōmbār, 29ē Jun
Grēbhsēṇḍ Bē, Bruklin, Ni'uẏark
(Bānlāẏ anubād, Budhbār, 1lā Julā'i)
--------------------------------------------------------

Note on the "Machine Transcription"

I have lightly edited the machine transcription above, provided by the program on the server  at http://google.com/translate.  I have done this mainly to delete the unnecessary short a's that should not be pronounced and to include periods and capitalization that were missed by the transcription program.

Note that the remaining short a's in this machine transcription are pronounced as a rounded vowel, intermediate in length between the vowels in standard (British) English "ball" and "pot".  In certain cases, it is rounded further and sounds like the o in English "rose" (without the diphthong and having a somewhat shorter duration). The long ā (which has a bar on top in this transcription) is pronounced like the vowel in standard (British or U.S.)  English "far", but with less duration.

Although the traditional Bengali spelling (and so also the machine transcription) makes distinctions between short and long versions of the vowels i and u, these distinctions are no longer audible in standard spoken Bengali.  Hindi-Urdu and most other Indic (Indo-Aryan) languages do preserve these distinctions of vowel-length (duration), some of which go back at least to the Sanskrit, if not earlier.

With the above reservations in mind for the short a and for the loss of distinction between long and short forms of i and u, the letters ā, e, i, o and u represent, in this transcription, the same vowel sounds that they do in standard Italian and Spanish.  The letters e and o are usually written, in this transcription, as their long forms, ē and ō.  Although their lengths would sound closer to long than short to an English ear, Bengali, like most Indic languages (but unlike Dravidian ones) does not distinguish between long and short forms of these two vowels.

There is also a vowel sound in Bengali that is the unrounded partner of the rounded open vowel represented by the short a.  This is like the vowel sounds in standard English "cat" and standard U.S. English "fast", being intermediate in length between the two.  However, as this vowel sound was absent in Sanskrit and might be a fairly recent development in Bengali, there is no letter in the traditional alphabet for it.

So this vowel is usually represented (inaccurately) either by an e or, for historical reasons having to do with changes in the pronunciation of Sanskrit words, by one other means involving an a or an ā followed by a special joined form of the ẏ. (See below for ẏ.)  So the machine transcription, following the traditional spelling, also does not indicate this sound properly.

(In my own Romanization scheme, I use e` to represent this sound, and o` to represent its rounded partner.)

Most of the consonant letters have the values that they most commonly have in English. But note that c has the sound represented by the (unaspirated) ch cluster of English "chum".

The letter h, when it follows a consonant, indicates aspiration--an added puff of air.

  

One should also note that, while the machine transcription displays all three forms (ś, ṣ and s) of the unvoiced sibilant consonant, all of these usually have the same sound in standard spoken Bengali, This is close to the sound of the English cluster sh, with the exceptions being when s precedes a dental t, th or n, or when s or ś precede the simple r.  In these cases, s and ś have the sound that s has in English "sell".  Examples of this can be heard in stiti, sthān, snān, srot and śri.

The circumflex forms of the dentals t, th, d, dh, n and of the basic r are indicated, in the machine transcription, by a dot below the letter: ṭ, ṭh, ḍ, ḍh, ṇ and ṛ.  However, in standard Bengali, these are all pronounced more by the tongue tip touching the upper gum ridge, as in English, than in the true circumflex way that prevails in much of the rest of the subcontinent. This is especially true in most of East Bengal, which is now Bangladesh.

This gives spoken Bengali (especially that of East Bengal) and Ahomiya, to some ears, a "softer" sound than their distant cousins to the west, such as Hindi, Marathi, Gujerati and Punjabi, and also their closer cousin, Oriya, all of which, like the Dravidian languages, make sharper distinctions between circumflex and dental stops, pronouncing the former very strongly.

The nasal is represented in the machine transcription, below, by m̐.  This symbol indicates that the preceding vowel should be nasalized.  In standard spoken Bengali, the nasalization is faint.

(In my own Romanization,  located above, between the English original and the translation in the traditional Bengali script, I have indicated nasalization with a tilde, ~, following the vowel to be nasalized.)

The n with a dot above (ṅ) usually stands for the ng sound in English "singer, song, lungs" (but at times, and almost always in the East Bengal variant of the standard pronunciation, for its sound in English "finger, anger").

For those not familiar with certain historical issues in Bengali spelling, one should point out that the Sanskrit y is pronounced, in Bengali, as is j, both having the sound of the first consonant in English "jam".  The Sanskrit w, which has migrated, in many Indic languages, into v, has changed, in Bengali and some other eastern Indic languages, into b. This w turned b is no longer pronounced when it follows a sibilant.  So śbās is pronounced as "shahsh" would be in English.

The y with a dot on top (ẏ) represents cases where the change to j has not taken place (usually between vowels) or is used with a vowel to indicate certain diphthongs.  In either of these situations, this ẏ is usually sounded as a short e (as in English "net").

There are a host of other things that could be discussed, including the "vowel harmony", especially evident in the central and western dialects of Bengali.  This can strongly alter the pronunciation of a vowel, because of the presence of a succeeding vowel (even when this second vowel has now vanished, due to contractions that have occurred in the past). This is only imperfectly represented in the spelling.  But I will stop here.
    

Phirechi Abar—ফিরেছি আবার—Returned Again

 
Because of end-of-term pressures from my job,  I could not do my usual transcription into Roman letters and the translation into English.  I have included Google's machine transcription and translation, available at http://google.com/translate.

Google's machine transcription faithfully reproduces the traditional Bengali spelling. This could help speakers of other Indo-Aryan languages decipher the content. It might also help those with some knowledge of Sanskrit.

The transcription might, however, cause readers not familiar with Bengali to mispronounce the words. This could still result in a sort of archaic, vowel-rich pronunciation that is musical and enjoyable. 
   
Note added (2015-07-12):  I have now lightly edited Google's "machine transcription" to remove the unnecessary short a's. These have long ceased to be pronounced.  In this piece, these not-pronounced short a's were almost all at the ends of words. 

I also had to add one short a, within a word (the second a in baẏas). 
  
Note that all short a's should, in this transcription, be pronounced as a rounded vowel, intermediate in  duration between the standard British pronunciations of the vowels in the words "pot" and "fall".  
  
Some other points on pronunciation should be borne in mind for this transcription scheme.  One of these is the merging, in standard spoken Bengali, of the three unvoiced sibilant sounds (the letters for which, ś, ṣ and s, are still preserved in the spelling) into what is usually represented by the sh cluster in English spelling.   
  
Please see the "Note on the Machine Transcription" at the very end of the post at http://thedailypoet.blogspot.com/2015/07/beside-seaxagor-tire-sagar-tire.html .
  
To conform to standard English usage, I have also added capitalization to proper names, and (where preceding periods had been left out by the machine transcription) at the start of sentences.

Turning next to Google's machine translation—it is far from the best, being often hilariously off.  But it will have to do for now.

With apologies,

Arjun

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

ফিরেছি আবার
  
বলেছিলে যা, চোখের ইশারায়,
সেটা সত্যি কি না মিথ্যে,
জানি না, জানি না, তবুও
রয়েছে জানবার ইচ্ছে৷
  
******
    
কতদিন, কত বছর ধরে, তোমাকে
দেখেছি দূর থেকে৷
কত চাহন, কত সুখের আশা
রয়ে গেছে এই বুকে৷
  
মাঝে মাঝে ক্ষনিকের মিলন,
হঠাৎ নিকটে দেখা৷
যা বলার ছিল, হয় নি বলা,
নিমেষের চোখাচোখি ছারা৷
  
দেখেছ কি তখন, চোখের ঝিলিকে,
পুরোনো প্রেমের আগুন?
মনে হয়েছে, আঁখির লোকানো ভাষায়,
তুমিও বলেছ কিছু৷
          
বয়্স বেড়েছে৷ প্রেমের সময়
মনে হয় কেটে গেছে কবে৷
তবুও দেখা হলে, মনে পড়ে আবার
প্রথম দেখা হয়েছিল যবে৷

****** 
  
শহর ছেড়ে, গিয়েছিলাম দূরে৷
ভেবেছিলাম, পাবো ক্ষমা৷
পাই নি, পাই নি৷ ভুলি নি তোমাকে,
চিরকালের প্রিয়তমা৷
   
তুমি আর আমি হেঁটেছি পাসে,
সপ্নর জগতে শুধু৷
হেসেছি সেখানে তোমার সঙ্গে,
চেখেছি প্রেমের মধু৷

সপ্ন কবে যে বাস্তব হবে,
জানি না, জানি না, হায়!
তোমার খোঁজে, এসেছি আবার
সপ্ন যেখানে যায়৷
   
কতদিন, কত বছর ধরে,
দেখেছি তোমাকে দূরে৷
ফিরেছি আবার, পুরোনো মহলে,
দূর দিগন্ত ঘুরে৷

******  
  
বলেছিলে যা, চোখের ইঙ্গিতে,
সেটা সত্যি কি না মিথ্যে,
জানি না, জানি না, তবুও
রয়েছে জানবার ইচ্ছে৷ 
  
সকাল ১০:২৩, শনিবার ৬ জুন, ২০১৫ খ্রি
বেন্সন্হার্স্ট, ব্রুক্লিন, নিউয়র্ক 

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

Phirēchi  Ābār

Balēchilē yā, cōkhēr iśārāẏ,
sēṭā satyi ki nā mithyē,
jāni nā, jāni nā, tabu'ō
raẏēchē jānbār icchē.

******

Katadin, kata bachar dharē, tōmākē
dēkhēchi dūr thēkē.
Kata cāhan, kata sukhēr āśā
raẏē gēchē ē'i bukē.

Mājhē mājhē kṣanikēr milan,
haṭhāṯ nikaṭē dēkhā.
Yā balār chila, haẏē ni balā,
nimēṣēr cōkhācōkhi chārā.

Dēkhēcha ki takhan, cōkhēr jhilikē,
purōnō prēmēr āgun?
Manē haẏēchē, ām̐khir lōkānō bhāṣāẏ,
tumi'ō balēcha kichu.
   
Baẏas bēṛēchē.  Prēmēr samaẏ
manē haẏ kēṭē gēchē kabē.
Tabu'ō dēkhā halē, manē paṛē ābār
pratham dēkhā haẏēchila yabē.
 
******
 
Śahar chēṛē, giẏēchilām dūrē.
Bhēbēchilām, pābō kṣamā.
Pā'i ni, pā'i ni.  Bhuli ni tōmākē,
cirakālēr priẏatamā.
 
Tumi ār āmi hēm̐ṭēchi pāsē,
sapnar jagatē śudhu.
Hēsēchi sēkhānē tōmār saṅgē,
cēkhēchi prēmēr madhu.

Sapna kabē yē bāstab habē,
jāni nā, jāni nā, hāẏ!
Tōmār khōm̐jē, ēsēchi ābār
sapna yēkhānē yāẏ.
 
Katadin, kata bachar dharē,
dēkhēchi tōmākē dūrē.
Phirēchi ābār, purōnō mahalē,
dūr diganta ghurē.

*******
 
Balēchilē yā, cōkhēr iṅgitē,
sēṭā satyi ki nā mithyē,
jāni nā, jāni nā, tabu'ō
raẏēchē jānbār icchē.

Sakāl 10:23, Śanibār 6 Jun, 2015 Khri
Bēnsanhārsṭ, Bruklin, Ni'uẏark

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

Returned again

That said, the eyes of the hinting,
What is true is false,
I do not know, I do not know, but
There is the desire to know.

*******

How long, how many years, you
Seen from a distance.
Desiring much, much happiness hope
The chest remained.

Sometimes momentarily reconciled,
Suddenly appeared near.
That is to say, not to say,
Referred without moments.

What he saw, the eye jhilike,
Love the old fire?
It seems, hidden in the eye,
You said something.
       
Increased age. Love Time
When it is cut.
Yet when you meet, remember again
Can first met.

*******
 
Out of the city, and went away.
When I was forgiven.
I did not, could not. I have not forgotten,
Love forever.
 
I walked close to you,
Only in the world of dreams.
Laughed with you there,
Cekhechi love honey.

When will that dream real,
I do not know, I do not know, alas!
Your looks, come again
Where dreams are.
 
How long, how many years,
I have seen far away.
Returned again, the old quarters,
Around the horizon.

******
 
That said, a hint of the eyes,
What is true is false,
I do not know, I do not know, but
There is the desire to know.

10:23 morning, Saturday, June 6, 2015
Bensanharst, Bruklin, New York
  

Lo`jja—লজ্জা—Too Shy

The poem in the traditional Bengali script is followed by two transcriptions. The first is an academic Romanization that faithfully represents the standard spelling in the traditional script. The second follows the standard modern pronunciation.  A guide to the pronunciation scheme used in the second transcription may be found at

http://thedailypoet.blogspot.com/2014/02/bharot-xadhin-indias-freedom.html

At the end, there is also a translation into English.
-----------------------------------------------------
  
লজ্জা 

প্রেমের কথা বলতে গিয়ে, লজ্জা এমন লাগল,
সকল কথা, আমার বুকে, আজো গোপন থাকল৷
পেলাম না যে সাহস সেদিন, তাই ত দেখো হাল৷
বছরগুলো গেল বয়ে, এলো নতুন কাল৷

প্রেমের কথা বলে না গো, নতুন কালের লোক৷
ভণ্ডামিতে মত্ত তারা, দিচ্ছে ছলে যোগ৷ 
মিথ্যে কথা আরামে বলে, লাগে না তাতে লাজ৷
সত্য প্রেমের মরন এলো, জ্বলছে চিতা আজ৷
  
কেউ বা বলে, "ফেনাই আমি, এমন ভাবে, ভাই, 
ফাঁদে পড়ে ফাঁসে যাতে৷ সেটাই আমি চাই৷
কেউ বা বলে, "প্রেমের কথা? বোঝাও, সেটা কি?"
বোঝাতে গিয়ে, হাসাহাসি৷ ছেড়ে দিলাম, ছি!
  
বুকের কথা বলা কঠিন, গলা শুকিয়ে যায়৷
বলার সময়ে, লজ্জা পেয়ে, ব্যর্থ হলাম, হায়!
আজো ভাবি, সত্যি কথা বলার ছিল, তাই,
না বলাতে, প্রেমের চারা হল শেষে ছাই৷ 
  
যদি তখন সাহস পেতাম, হত কি তখন কিছু?
কত আগের দিনের কথা, তাই ত ভাবা মিছু৷
সখী এখন কোথায় আছে?  সুখ পেয়েছে কি?
কেনো এখনো ভাবছি, ভেবে লজ্জা পেলাম, ছি!
  
মিথ্যে কথায় প্রেমের মরন, না বলাতেও তা৷
সত্যি কথা বললে, ভাবি, প্রেম কি পেতাম না?
অনেক দিনের আগের কথা, কে জানে কি হতো?
লজ্জার চোটে হল না বলা৷ হয়ো না আমার মত৷ 

বৃহস্পতিবার, ৪ঠা জুন, ২৹১৫ খ্রি
ব্রুক্লিন, নিউয়র্ক 
-----------------------------------------------------

Lajjā 

Prēmēra kathā balatē giẏē, lajjā ēmana lāgala,
sakala kathā, āmāra bukē, ājō gōpana thākala.
Pēlāma nā yē sāhasa sēdina, tā'i ta dēkhō hāla.
Bacharagulō gēla baẏē, ēlō natuna kāla.

Prēmēra kathā balē nā gō, natuna kālēra lōka.
Bhaṇḍāmitē matta tārā, dicchē chalē yōga.
Mithyē kathā ārāmē balē, lāgē nā tātē lāja.
Satya prēmēra marana ēlō, jbalachē citā āja.

Kē'u bā balē, "Phēnā'i āmi, ēmana bhābē, bhā'i,
phām̐dē paṛē phām̐sē yātē.  Sēṭā'i āmi cā'i.
Kē'u bā balē, "Prēmēra kathā?  Bōjhā'ō, sēṭā ki?"
Bōjhātē giẏē, hāsāhāsi.  Chēṛē dilāma, chi!

Bukēra kathā balā kaṭhina, galā śukiẏē yāẏa.
Balāra samaẏē, lajjā pēẏē, byartha halāma, hāẏa!
Ājō bhābi, satyi kathā balāra chila, tā'i,
nā balātē, prēmēra cārā hala śēṣē chā'i.

Yadi takhana sāhasa pētāma, hata ki takhana kichu?
Kata āgēra dinēra kathā, tā'i ta bhābā michu.
Sakhī ēkhana kōthāẏa āchē? Sukha pēẏēchē ki?
Kēnō ēkhanō bhābachi, bhēbē lajjā pēlāma, chi!

Mithyē kathāẏa prēmēra marana, nā balātē'ō tā.
Satyi kathā balalē, bhābi, prēma ki pētāma nā?
Anēka dinēra āgēra kathā, kē jānē ki hatō?
Lajjāra cōṭē hala nā balā.  Haẏō nā āmāra mata.

br̥haspatibāra, 4ṭhā juna, 2015 khri
bruklina, ni'uẏarka  
-----------------------------------------------------  

Lo`jja

Premer ko`tha bolte gie, lo`jja e`mon laglo,
Xo`kol ko`tha, amar buke, ajo gopon thaklo.
Pelam na je xahox xedin, tai to de`kho hal.
Bo`chor gulo ge`lo boe, elo notun kal.

Premer ko`tha bo`le na go, notun kaler lok.
Bho`nd’ami te mo`tto tara, dicche cho`le jog.
Mithe ko`tha arame bo`le, lage na tader laj.
Xotto premer mo`ron elo, jolche cite aj.

Keu ba bo`le, “Phe`nai ami, e`mon bhabe, bhai,
Pha~de por`e phaxe jate.  xet’ai ami cai.”
Keu ba bo`le, “Premer ko`tha?  Bojhao, xet’a ki?”
Bojhate gie, haxahaxi.  Chere dilam, chi!

Buker ko`tha bo`la kot’hin, go`la xukie jae.
Bolar xomo`e, lo`jja pe-e, be`rtho holam, hae!
Ajo bhabi, xotti ko`tha bo`lar chilo, tai
Na bo`late, premer cara holo xexe chai.

Jodi to`khon xahox petam, hoto ki to`khon kichu?
Ko`to ager diner ko`tha, tai to bhaba michu!
Xokhi e`khon kothae ache?  Xukh pe-eche ki?
Ke`no e`khono bhabchi, bhebe lo`jja pelam, chi!

Mitthe ko`thae premer mo`ron, na bo`lateo ta.
Xotti kotha bolle, bhabi, prem ki petam na?
O`nek diner ager ko`tha, ke jane ki hoto?
Lojjar cot’e holo na bo`la.  Hoeo na amar mo`to.
 
brihoxpotibar, 4-t’ha jun, 2015 khri
bruklin, niu io`rk
-----------------------------------------------------

 Too Shy
 
I tried to speak of my love, but I couldn't.
And so the words are still with me today.
I couldn't find the courage, so I've paid
The price of years.  A new age has come.
 
The moderns do not speak the words of love.
They're busy with their dodges and their scams.
They lie with ease.  They feel no shame in this.
The love that's true has died.  The pyre burns.
 
One says, "I spin my tale, like a spider does
its web, and so I trap my prey.  Haha!"
Another asks, "Your 'words of love'?  Explain."
And so I try, but being mocked, desist.

It's hard to speak of what we feel.  We gulp.
From my embarrassment, I couldn't speak.
And even now, I think: because those words
Remained unsaid, love's little sprig had died.

If I had found my voice, what might have then
Transpired?  So long ago!  What point in this?
Where's my darling now?  Did she find love?
I feel ashamed, that I'm still wondering.

Love dies from lying and from silence too.
If I had told the truth, would I then still
Have lost?  So long ago!  Who knows, what might
Have been.  I was too shy.  Don't be like me.

2015 June 4th, Thu.
Brooklyn, New York
    

Kon Bar’ite?—কোন বাড়িতে?—Where?

 
The poem in the traditional Bengali script is followed by two transcriptions. The first is an academic Romanization that faithfully represents the standard spelling in the traditional script. The second follows the standard modern pronunciation.  A guide to the pronunciation scheme used in the second transcription may be found at
 
http://thedailypoet.blogspot.com/2014/02/bharot-xadhin-indias-freedom.html

At the end, there is also a rather free translation into English.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
কোন বাড়িতে?
   
কোন বাড়িতে প্রেম এসেছে?
কোন বাড়িতে, বলো৷
কোন বাড়িতে, ভোরের সাথে,
সুখের কিরণ এলো?
    
কোন বাড়িতে প্রেমের পীড়া?
কোন বাড়িতে, বলো৷
কোন বাড়িতে, সুখের বেলায়,
দুঃখের ছায়া এলো? 

কোন বাড়িতে প্রেম আসে নি?
কোন বাড়িতে, বলো৷
কোন বাড়িতে, সন্ধ্যে এসে,
প্রেমের আশা নিল?
  
কোন বাড়িতে প্রেম জেগেছে?
কোন বাড়িতে, বলো৷
কোন বাড়িতে, রাতের মাঝে,
বুকে আশা দিল?
    
বিকেল ৫:০৩ 
সোমবার, ২৫এ মে, ২০১৫ খ্রি
বেন্সন্হার্স্ট, ব্রুক্লিন, নিউয়র্ক 
 -------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Kōna bāṛitē?

Kōna bāṛitē prēma ēsēchē?
Kōna bāṛitē, balō.
kōna bāṛitē, bhōrēra sāthē,
sukhēra kiraṇa ēlō?

Kōna bāṛitē prēmēra pīṛā?
Kōna bāṛitē, balō.
Kōna bāṛitē, sukhēra bēlāẏa,
duḥkhēra chāẏā ēlō?

Kōna bāṛitē prēma āsē ni?
Kōna bāṛitē, balō.
Kōna bāṛitē, sandhyē ēsē,
prēmēra āśā nila?

Kōna bāṛitē prēma jēgēchē?
Kōna bāṛitē, balō.
Kōna bāṛitē, rātēra mājhē,
bukē āśā dila?

bikēla 5:03 
Sōmabāra, 25ē mē, 2015 khri
bēnsanhārsṭa, bruklina, ni'uẏarka
-------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Kon Bar’ite?

Kon bar’ite prem exeche?
Kon bar’i te, bo`lo.
Kon bar’ite, bhorer xathe,
Xukher kiro`n elo?

Kon bar’ite premer pira?
Kon bar’ite, bo`lo.
Kon bar’ite, xukher be`lae,
Dukkher chaea elo?

Kon bar’ite prem axeni?
Kon barite, bo`lo.
Kon bar’ite, xondhe exe,
Premer axa nilo?

Kon bar’ite prem jegeche?
Kon bar’ite, bo`lo.
Kon bar'ite, rater majhe,
Buke axa dilo?

bikel 5:03, xombar, 25-e me, 2015 khri
benso`nharst’, bruklin, niu io`rk

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

    

Where?

  

Where has love arrived?

Where is it?  Let me know.

Where has the light of happiness

Arrived with the dawn?
  

Where is the pain of love?

Where is it?  Let me know.

Where has the shadow of sorrow

Arrived at the time of joy?
   

Where has love not come?

Where is it?  Let me know.

Where has the evening arrived

And taken the hope of love?
   

Where has love awoken?

Where is it?  Let me know.

It glows from the ashes of night.

It gives hope to the heart. 

    

2015, 25th May, Mon, 5:03 pm

Brooklyn, New York

    

Premer Ko`tha Bolbo Kake?--প্রেমের কথা বলব কাকে?--To Whom Shall I Speak Of My Love?

   
The verses in Bengali, using its traditional script and standard spelling, are followed by a loose translation into English, and then by a transcription into Roman letters.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
  
প্রেমের কথা বলব কাকে?

যে প্রেমের কথা বলার ছিল,
সে কথা ত রয়ে গেল সব৷
রইলে না যে তুমি, যাকে
বলার ছিল কথাগুল৷
 
প্রেমের কথা বলব কাকে?
থেকে গেল আমার বুকে৷
দুঃখে এখন কাটাই জীবন৷
তাও ত দেখ হাসি ভুলে৷

বলব কি সেই দুখের কথা?
গাইব কি সেই প্রেমের গান?
হাসছি আমি মৃদু হাসি,
তোমার হাসি দেখছি আজ৷
 
******
    
গানের আলাপ, গানের সুর,
গানের ছন্দ, গানের শেষ...
গানের মত এলে তুমি,
গানের মাঝে ছাড়লে দেশ...

কোন দেশে আজ গাইছ তুমি?
কোন বেলাতে আসবে ফিরে?
সে দেশ থেকে ফিরবে না, হায়!
দেখতে দেখতে সন্ধ্যে এল৷

বুকের কথা বলব কাকে?
বলব বোধহয় হাওয়ার কানে৷
বইবে হাওয়া, নিয়ে যাবে
প্রেমের কথা কারোর কানে৷

বিকেল ৪:৪৯, সোমবার, ২৫এ মে (মেমোরিয়াল ডে ),২০১৫ খ্রি
(মার্কিন যুক্তরাষ্ট্রে, মৃত সৈনিকদের স্মারক দিবস )
বেন্সন্হার্স্ট, ব্রুক্লিন, নিউয়র্ক

  
---------------------------------------------------------------------
      
To Whom Shall I Speak Of My Love?
    
The words I had to say, with love,
those words are still with me,
but not the one, to whom I should
have softly said them then. 
  
To whom shall I speak those words of love?
They’ve stayed within my heart.
I pass my days in sorrow, yet
you see I smile by chance.
  
Should I now recount my grief
or sing my song of love?
Or should I smile because I see
the way you once had smiled? 
  
****** 
  
The humming and the rhythm and
the tune and then the end…
You came like music and like song,
but in their midst you left.
  
Where is your song and where are you?
And when will you return?
You never will return from there!
The evening comes apace.

To whom will I speak the words in my heart?
Perhaps in the ear of the wind?
The wind, it will blow and carry the words
of my love to a hearer afar.
  
2015, 25th May, Mon*, 4:49 pm
(* Memorial Day, in the U.S.A., for soldiers killed in wars)
Bensonhurst. Brooklyn, New York
  
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

That Roman transcription below follows the standard (West Bengali) pronunciation, but not the standard spelling currently used with the traditional script.

Although the traditional script is beautiful and irreplaceable, the standard spelling is based upon a pronunciation that is now either archaic or borrowed.  This spelling faithfully preserves and represents the old roots, but is better suited, phonetically, for Sanskrit or for the eastern Indo-Aryan dialects of Bihar than it is for the dialects of Bengali that have prevailed in most of the Bengal delta, probably for the past several centuries.

For the purposes of correctly representing the pronunciation of Bengali in Roman letters, it might be best, therefore, to abandon the non-phonetic or quasi-phonetic aspects of standard Bengali orthography.

Of course, standard English spelling is even worse at representing English speech.  Indeed, the spelling of English is probably as far from phonetic as one could possibly get without lapsing into total arbitrariness.

So while a Romanization might be of service to those who come to Bengali with literacy in a Western European language, it is surely advisable to also avoid the vagaries, limitations and ambiguities of English spelling.

So one has to devise or borrow a system of Romanization that can faithfully mirror the actual pronunciation of Bengali words.

In doing so, however, one might have to abandon any attempt to preserve the old root words that might ease the comprehension of written Bengali for those familiar with an ancestral or sibling tongue, such as Sanskrit or any of the Indo-Aryan tongues, or even those Dravidian languages that have borrowed heavily, especially in their literary forms, from Sanskrit or its daughters.

A similar complaint may be lodged against any phonetic rationalization of English spelling, which might of course obscure the Latin and other root-words whose fossils are still recognizable in the current spelling of English.

A brief outline of the transcription scheme used below may be found in the preface at:

http://thedailypoet.blogspot.com/2014/02/bharot-xadhin-indias-freedom.html

------------------------------------------------------------------------
       
Premer Ko`tha Bolbo Kake?

Je premer ko`tha bo`lar chilo,
xe ko`tha to roe ge`lo xo`b.
Roile na je tumi, jake
bo`lar chilo  ko`thagulo.

Premer ko`tha bolbo kake?
Theke ge`lo amar buke.
Dukkhe e`khon kat’ai jibon.
Tao to de`kho haxi bhule.

Bolbo ki xei dukher ko`tha?
Gaibo ki xei premer gan?
Haxchi ami mridu haxi.
Tomar haxi dekchi aj.
  

****** 
    
Ganer alap, ganer xur,
ganer cho`ndo, ganer xex…
Ganer moto ele tumi,
ganer majhe char’le dex…
  
Kon dexe aj gaicho tumi?
Kon belate axbe phire?
Xe dex theke phirbe na go.
Dekhte dekhte, xondhe elo.
   
Buker ko`tha bolbo kake?
Bolbo bodh ho`e haoar kane.
Boibe haoa, nie jabe
Premer ko`tha karor kane.
   
bikel 4:49, xombar, 25-e me, 2015 khri
(memorial d’e)
(markin juktoraxtre, mrito xoinikder xarok dibo`x) 
benso`nharst’, bruklin, niu io`rk
   

The Minstrel

The Minstrel
 
I met a minstrel on the road
And walked with her a while.
I heard her singing as she walked.
I listened, with a smile.

And this is what she said to me
Upon that twisting way.
Her every word remains with me
Unto this very day.

“I found you just by happenstance,
And while I have your ear,
I’ll sing to you the songs that come,
Before they disappear.
 
“I’ll sing to you of land and sea,
Of sky that vaults above.
I’ll sing to you of innocence,
Of tenderness, of love.
 
“I’ll sing to you of villages
Beside the rippling lakes.
I’ll sing to you of sentience,
Of consciousness that wakes.
 
"I'll sing to you of mountains and
Of foothills and of plains.
I'll sing to you of dancing
At the starting of the rains.
 
“I’ll sing to you of patience and
Of science and the arts.
I’ll sing to you of courage and
Of hopes in human hearts.
     
“I’ll sing to you of swirling clouds,
Of thunder, lightning, rain.
I’ll sing to you of rapture and
Of sorrow and of pain.
 
“I’ll sing to you of sunrise and
The fiery, blazing noon.
I’ll sing to you of sunset and
The brightly shining moon.
 
“I’ll sing to you of multitudes
Of men and ants and stars.
I’ll sing to you of horrors and
Of all the senseless wars.
 
“I‘ll sing to you of present times
And also other things.
I’ll sing to of history
And what the future brings.
 
“I’ll sing to you of turbulence
And of the times serene.
I ‘ll sing to you of what I've felt
And what I've heard and seen.
 
“And when you’re tired of what I sing,
Then you can bid me leave.
But when I’m gone, with all my songs,
I trust you will not grieve.
 
“I do not know from where they come,
the songs you’ll hear me sing,
Perhaps you’ll hear that singing too,
When I have taken wing.
 
“And then perhaps you’ll seek for one
Who’ll lend, to you, an ear,
And hope she will be stirred by what,
Through you, she too can hear.”
 
And so that minstrel sang to me
Her songs of light and dark.
And though the years have passed since then,
I still, to them, can hark.
 
And just as she had said to me,
I hear a singing too,
That comes from where I do not know,
So I can sing to you.
 
2015 May 14th, Thu.
Brooklyn, New York  
    

For Every Love Denied

 
For Every Love Denied

   
I walk tonight and see a rising moon –
And so recall that Luna’s silver light
Lends magic to the lovers’ trystings, as
It casts that shadow that’s a lover’s plight.

The joys of love are celebrated, but
Its sorrows give, to songs of love, their depth.
When love’s accepted, we rejoice – and yet,
At being rejected, some are more adept.
 
But those, who’ve weathered their romances past,
And so, in many ways, can shield their hearts,
Too often may forget their innocence
Or when they first were pierced by Cupid’s darts.
 
For every love, sincere, that’s been denied,
For every lover scorned, abandoned, I
Now make lament.  The moon that rises, full,
I see reflected in a wistful eye.
 
For every yearning for fulfillment that
Depended on another’s whim or choice,
I whisper recognition.  To that pain
Of unfulfillment, I give plaintive voice.

Let every maid, from grave or ashes, rise,
Who died a spinster, from her love denied.
Let every youth revive, to walk again,
Who yearned and aged – and till his passing pined.
 
And let those beings walk beneath this moon
And be the lovers they were meant to be –
If only for an hour, in that sweet delight –
And then, fulfilled, forever cease to be…
 
I walk tonight, beneath a rising moon
And so recall the joy, frustration, pain
Of courtship and rejection.  So I mouth
These verses now – that might be mouthed again…
 
2015 January 10th, Sat.
Brooklyn, New York
  

To Someone

  
To Someone
  
Although it’s been so many, many years,
I still cannot forget your eyes, my friend –
The times I looked upon those eyes and sensed
A link to what has neither start nor end…
  
Two eyes that meet, two hands that briefly touch –
That current that then suddenly connects –
How can we explain it?  Leave it be –
Acknowledging it happened, till the next…
  
But oftentimes, it’s only one that feels
That current or that heart that skips a beat –
And then, it’s best to bow and quietly leave,
So heart and mind, disturbed, can take their rest…
 
But now so many years have passed, and yet
I wonder, were those merely idle dreams –
Or were they real?  So I write this verse,
While knowing little is, as what it seems…
 
2014 July 30th, Wed.
Brooklyn, New York
     

Dhoka (Played)

    
Dhoka                                                 Played     
  
Rater majhe exechilo pori,          An angel came in the dark of night
Bhore to cole ge`lo xe.                  And left before the dawn.
Roilo to`khon xo`ron xudhu     Within the shadows of the mind,
Moner a~dhare, he.                        The memory remained.
  
Xei harano xo`roner kho~je,      In search then of that memory,
Xo`pno-praxade ghuri.                 I wandered in my dreams,
Jakei dekhi, takei jigai,                  Asking those I met if they
Dekhejo e`moni huri?                    Had ever seen such grace.
  
Jo`toi khu~ji, pai na go, tai          But finding nothing, I then sought
Dupure, xagor tire,                          The ocean shore at noon,
Roder jholoke, dekhi je`no hot’at   And in the brilliance on the waves
Porir golari hire.                               I glimpsed her necklace bright.
  
Ce~cie ut’he, jha~p debo prae,    I rushed towards the sea, but then
Ke e`k dhore bo`le, “Boka!           A voice restrained me. “Fool!
Xo`pne exechilo bholate tomae,   She came at night to play with you,
Ebaro dieche dhoka.”                      As now she does again.”
  
rat 1:45, 6oi Epril, 2014 kri.             2014 April 6th, Sat., 1:45 am
Bensanharst’, Bruklin, No`bo Io`rk.    Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, New York
   

Infantutation

Infantutation

Romeo, to Juliet:

Sunshine on the meadows wide, sun upon the sea,
Everywhere I look, I find a world that smiles with me.
Rolling surf on beaches, wind that whistles through the pines!
The mountain tops are singing – and I understand their lines!

On days like this, I float with clouds  across the sky of blue.
The weeks go by and still I know that I’m in love with you.
The scents of rose and jasmine rise to scent the days and nights.
In songs of nightingales and larks, this lover’s heart delights.

The moon is rising yonder, and it soon will light the sea.       \1
On such a night, who walks upon the shore with thirsting me?
Come Juliet, bless Romeo with this, his only chance,
With you, his one and only, by the moonlit waves, to dance!

You’re Verona's fairest flower, I’m your honey bee!
Come, my Juliet – and dance away this night with me!
We’ll listen to the nightingale – there, he's calling, hark!
And come the dawn, we’ll waken to the singing of the lark.

Juliet, to Romeo:

Oh Romeo, your verses paint a picture, true, of bliss!
But did you once, from Rosaline, attempt to steal a kiss?
A little bird is tweeting that you did, you did, you did!
But Rosaline, she ran from you, and with her nurses hid.

If Juliet gave in to you, then would you think her easy?
The thought of this disturbs her heart and makes her stomach queasy.
The nightingale is singing, as you set my heart aflutter.
But when the lark replaces him, what words will you then utter?

The moon is rising and the night is fit for lovers’ trysts.
But Montagues fight Capulets with swords, not merely fists!
I fear that this, our newborn love, is from its birthing doomed.
For if we are discovered, then we both might be entombed.

Too little, of the ways of men, has this, your Juliet, seen.
Romeo's her elder, since she's yet to reach fourteen.  \2
Now go, my darling Romeo!  I’ve loved your serenade!
Now go, before we’re found – and so, a sad example, made!

Romeo to Juliet:

You ask that I should go – and this, I hardly can believe!
Could love be so inconstant – and a lover’s heart deceive?
But what you say commands me, dear!  Before I leave – a kiss!
To part without this seal upon our love would be remiss.

Juliet to Romeo:

Oh Romeo!  You’ve won my heart!  I would not have you go!
I only wish that you could stay and captivate me more.
Come now, before you go – and take, from Juliet, her heart.
Your lip upon my lip – and then, we shall, as lovers, part!

2014 January 14th, Tue., 10:14 pm
Eyetalianhurst, Brooklyn, NY
 
1.   Some careless liberty was taken here.  As I found out later 
      from my friend Vivek, Verona is not by the sea.

2.  This was the ill-fated heroine's age, as stated by her father, in 
      William Shakespeare's play, Romeo and Juliet.
  

A Woman, Young -- Part II

A Woman, Young -- Part II

A memory remains
of California sun
and that brief incident,
that crossing of the paths
between that woman and
myself --
the ones we were
that morning,
long ago.

Unaccustomed as I was, to women, young,
who'd follow me and offer me a ride --
and insist on it, a stranger though I was ---
I did not know then what to do
except to walk away ---
perhaps especially as she
was beautiful,
attractive and vivacious,
and, at least with me, that day,
flirtatious in a friendly sort of way,
with a sunny innocence that lit her eyes
and a smile that played, like sunshine, on her face.

I did not know then how I should react.
And so, I stumbled and I walked away.

It might have been for the best.

I wonder, still,
how it just might have been
if only I were not
the solemn one that I
felt bound to be
that sunlit day.

I wonder too, just who she was,
that woman, young,
whose form had been revealed to me,
in wondrous nudity,
in morning's light --
that woman who
had followed me --
perhaps because our eyes had met
and she had sensed, as I had done,
a history, unreachable --
a musk
without a name --
and perhaps
a destiny
that turned out
not to be...

I wonder who she was,
that woman, young,
whom I remembered suddenly
this evening, thirty years
and very far away --
I wonder who she was --
and is --
that woman, now perhaps
no longer young...

I did not ask her name,
nor offer mine,
and nor did she,
despite her friendliness...

I wish her well,
and I also wish that I could say,
"I'm sorry that I was
a dolt that day."

2013  October 31, Thu.
Brooklyn
  
A Woman, Young -- Part I 

http://thedailypoet.blogspot.com/2013/10/a-woman-young.html 
 

A Woman, Young -- Part I

      
A Woman, Young -- Part I
  
It was morning -- 10 o'clock or earlier.  I hadn't slept.
But I was young, and though I'd lectured for an hour or more,
I still had energy to spare.

I was walking out of the building where I'd lectured, when
I saw a woman, young, who stood where light was streaming in.
Her gauzy dress was billowing in the breeze,
and I could see her form, as if she wasn't wearing clothes
at all.

On exiting the building's door, I met that woman's gaze,
for just an instant.  Walking, then, across the sunlit yard,
I heard, behind me, footsteps, fast -- and found her by my side.

She greeted me.  I turned and answered, being just polite.
She was quite beautiful.  

A word or two of casual talk, and then -- she offered me
a ride.  I said, "I live nearby.  I usually just walk."

But she insisted.  So I sat, and as she drove, she asked,
"So what's your major?"  I answered, "Physics."
"Why do you have that book, then?" she inquired,
and gestured at the thing that sat upon my lap --
a book on mathematics, meant for freshmen
who weren't majoring in engineering, sciences
or math -- and needed a refresher course.

But we were at the buildings meant for faculty,
where I was rooming with a friend who taught.

"I'm saved!" I thought.  Some part of me
was just unwilling to acknowledge that
I now no longer could romance a girl
who might just be an undergrad, while I
had finished with my post-doc there at UCI,
and now had given my last lecture there in math,
and would be leaving soon for someplace far away.

I said, "We'll talk about that later, over coffee."

"But where -- and when?" she asked.

"I'm sure we'll meet each other once again.",
I said -- and saying this,
I waved and walked away.

I'd almost reached my building when I heard her car
-- and saw it curve and glide away.

I never saw that woman, young, again.

2013  October 31, Thu.
Brooklyn 
 

The Puzzle

The Puzzle

She asked him why he left her, but he never did reply.
So she was left to figure out the real reason why.
And though the years have come and gone, that puzzle still remains,
That never will be solved by her, whose time has come to die.

How many years, how many years, of asking for the reason...
How many tears, how many tears, on day and month of season,
The day and month on which he left, as autumn then was ending...
And still she pays, as ending nears, the price for lover's treason....

How lightly men may leave the maidens whom they courted, won...
How sadly ends the dalliance so happily begun...
How deep the wound that rarely heals, though time attempts its cure,
How strange that some have hearts with space for one -- and only one.

How many pitfalls life may lay upon a mortal's way,
How many traps that snare the one who stops from saying, "Nay."
How many mothers warn their girls, who yet succumb to love,
How many men, who leave the maid, with whom they've had their way...

When she was young, she tried, in vain, to youthful heart defend.
Now death approaches and she nears her tortuous journey's end.
We wonder if she'll ever have a chance to live again,
And in that life, for errors past, another will amend.

2013 September 18th, Wed.
Brooklyn
 

Meetings

  
Meetings
  
Where shall we meet in the gloaming,
When shall I see you again?
There's so little of time remaining –
And yet it is time yet again...

******

Shall we meet by chance on a country road,
As the end of the day is coming?
And shall we dally there awhile,
With the crickets loudly humming?

Or shall I find you by a lake,
On another day, at evenfall?
And shall we linger by the shore,
As the frogs and the birds returning call?

Or shall we meet  in a wooded glen,
At the sunset hour, in another season?
And shall we stand there, in the dusk,
And wonder then if there's a reason?

Shall we cross upon the field,
At twilight, in another year?
Will you know that it is me,
And will I know that you are near?

******

We met and walked together awhile,
And then, in time, we parted.
But still, I think of you and smile,
Who far too soon departed...

I always feel that we'll meet again,
But then again we'll part.
And so it's always the end of the day,
When I sense that you are there.

But if I smile as the sun goes down,
Will I weep in the light of the dawning,
As I see you walking on the dew-wet grass,
And I know that you're gone forever?

How sad is the gloom of the evening,
How glad is the sun of the morn...
And yet, when I think of your passing,
I smile as I weep that you're gone.

******

Where shall we meet in the gloaming,
When shall I see you again?
There's so little of time remaining –
And yet it is time yet again...

2013 July 27th, Sat.
Brooklyn