Beyond Land and Time

Banalata Sen

(Bônôlôtā Sєn)

Translated by Chidananda Das Gupta

For aeons have I roamed the roads of the earth.

From the seas of Ceylon to the straits of Malaya

I have journeyed, alone, in the enduring night,

And down the dark corridor of time I have walked

Through mist of Bimbisara, Asoka, darker Vidarbha.

Round my weary soul the angry waves still roar;

My only peace I knew with Banalata Sen of Natore.

Her hair was dark as night in Vidisha;

Her face the sculpture of Sravasti.

I saw her, as a sailor after the storm

Rudderless in the sea, spies of a sudden

The grass-green heart of the leafy island.

‘Where were you so long?' she asked, and more

With her bird's-nest eyes, Banalata Sen of Natore.

As the footfall of dew comes evening;

The raven wipes the smell of warm sun

From its wings; the world's noises die.

And in the light of fireflies the manuscript

Prepares to weave the fables of night;

Every bird is home, every river reached the ocean.

Darkness remains; and time for Banalata Sen.