Beyond Land and Time

Seven Stars in the Sky

(Rupôshi Bāngla 7: Ākāshє Shāt-ti Tārā)

Translated by Md. Didarul Alam

When the cluster of seven stars appears in the sky

I keep sitting; Kamranga-red cloud has dropped down

            under the waves of the Ganges

Like a dead Munia,—then came

The calm devoted blue-evening of Bangla—

As if a long-haired maiden has come to the sky.

Her hair waves in front of my eyes, on my face:

No path in this world did see this maiden

Never saw such kisses of countless hair pouring down

On the Hijal, Kanthal, Berry without a break;

Haven’t known I, such a pleasant smell

Spreads out from the hair of a beautiful maiden,

In any path of this earth;

Smell of the soft paddy—fragrance of bindweed.

Soft smell of the feathers of ducklings, water of a pond, reed

And ‘Chanda’, ‘Sharpunti’ fishes.

Wet hands of a teenaged girl after cleaning the rice

her cold hands; the grass trampled by the adolescent,

tired silence

Of the afflicted smell of the red palm-flowers—

Amidst of all these—I do feel—the heart of Bangla

When the cluster of seven stars appear in the sky.