My dreams

My dreams,
Lying on the shore
Unfulfilled pebbles.
My myopic eyes
Don't recognize,
Cannot own
Any one stone.

Those black jewels
Which could once see
The horizon at night,
The hilltop through the fog
Are screeching for vision.

'They're not what you see
They're diamonds!
Whether scattered
On the beach,
Drowned in the mines
Yet to be found,
Adorning a jewelry
Or a beating heart
They're precious
Priceless pearls'.

My feeble, fragile hands
Took some from the sand,
Through the travelling thoughts
Like a 'living dead'
Came unto a stream, got
Them gently placed  on its bed.

A voice whispered again in the air
'The fresh, tender water
Would perhaps not let them die.
Let them lie here in peace,
The rest that are drying on the shore?
Through an unknown hand of bliss
Will see their day for sure'.

Roles matter

When you write your lines
I become a reader
You bring them to life
With your tunes
Humming in the air,
I become a listener.

You sing to me stories
Of successes and failures
Of families and histories
Of joys and woes,
Your world of words
Makes me a follower.

For all these roles I play
I'm indebted to you everyday
I can read, listen, follow
Other words, high and low,
Now I'm able to catch and receive
Stories of diverse thoughts and beliefs.

I can also write and sing my lines
This role liberates me from any bondage
Thousands of untouched, untold lives
Unfold on my patient, moving page. 

Really

Really

Goodness is seen
Sadly in pictures
In advertisements
In words
In sounds
Seldom in silence
Camouflaged in the cage
Bound within the fence.

If so many people are good
Showing their affection
Their kindness
Towards the needy and the poor
In social networking sites
Collecting a downpour
Of countless likes
Then why's the world still
Suffering from injustice, imbalance
Of every kind?

I wonder how we talk
What we do instead
When none would watch us?
Weak or strong
What are the monologues
What actions play in the head
Where are we going wrong!

The mystery is that
Deep inside
What we show
Is keeping us alive
Like Sartre said,
As the 'living dead'
Within the walls
Fake and false.

In these unaffected lines
I might sound a little rude
But relax ye dudes.
Like you, I want the world,
Hackneyed with words
To be just as it should
Really kind and good. 

A perfect world

Looking for perfection
Is not just a vice
It's an addiction, an invisible device
Through which enters
The hitherto invincible corruption
With a humongous, perverted price.

You don't accept a line
A word, an expression
Of a text
You come up with fine
Innocuous suggestions,
But you don't realise
That this intolerance
In other contexts
Can ruin your life.

This virus in your head
Could contaminate your house,
You don't accept your spouse
Their stature, their size
Their looks
You don't accept your child
Their friends, their preferences
Their outfit, their outlooks.
You don't accept your colleagues,
Your friends,
Their language, their leagues
Their possession,
Their habits, their race.

Finally perhaps
A voice says,
'I don't accept myself,
But why pray!
I survive, I exist
I'm on my way
Striving to be perfect,
Not in your books
But on my page.
You accept me, my lines, my germs
Just as they arrive, as they come.

Maybe the world will take
Another hundred years,
Fighting intolerant wars
For a perfect world
With uncountable grief and tears
Until it knew how to love,
To greet others
The way they are,
To accept, welcome
All forms and expressions
Without elusive perfection.

Choice

The door is open
But I cannot leave.

The outside beckons
The inside attracts
I'm stuck in between.

I'm free to go
Hands are tied
Feet drowning
Into the dark abyss low
I find myself inside
This yes and no.

The call is certain
So sudden
I cannot believe.

Both worlds, with their beliefs
I want to own, love and live.

The appealing dichotomy
Speaks volumes to me.

Life lies as an open book
But I cannot turn the leaf. 

Ready to work

If we discover
The art of love
Airs and waters will purify
Pollution will disappear
Poverty will perish
Global warming
Will cease to exist.

Hey scientists
Believe in prayers
Believe in spirituality
Come let's explore
How we can love
Being together.

Stop all your work
Switch off all lights
Nonsense, all nonsense
I promise
The sky will not fall
Nothing more harmful can happen
Organisations
A crimehouse
Where rats eat the mice
Every day and night
With chicanery and vice
Corruption we espouse.

Stop all your work
Lie doing nothing at all
Just pray from the bottom
Of your heart
And feel the loving art
Beat the darkness
That had for long withdrawn
Bliss, happiness
From the luminous lawn
We will experience
A splendid
A much forgotten dawn.

And then!
My dear friends!
We'd again be ready to work. 

জীবনী

আমার
দুঃখ করার কারণ আছে
কিন্তু দুঃখ করার সময় নেই।

ভোরের আকাশ পাখির গানে
ভোরে ওঠে মোর বাগানে

আনন্দের এই পৃথিবীতে
দু হাতে তাই তালি দেই

লোকজন আর টাকা কড়ি
মান সম্মান গাড়ি বাড়ি
ছেড়ে গেছে একে একে
হালকা করে এই আমাকে
যেই টুকু রয়ে গেছে পুঁজি
তাতেই আমি মহা খুশি

দু হাত তুলে নাচি কেবল
হার মেনে তাই জিতেই যাই।

পথ চলতে রাস্তা ঘাটে
লোকের দুখের সাথী হই।

আনন্দের এই নাট্যমঞ্চে
ভালবাসায় বিভোর রই।

আমার
দুঃখ করার কারণ আছে
দুঃখ করার সময় নেই। 

Translation of a poem written by Tagore

It's a very small poem written by Rabindranath Tagore on the eve of Bengali New Year. Here is a very modest attempt to translate the lines into English and French. 

বন্ধু হও, শত্রু হও
যেখানে যে কেহ রও,
ক্ষমা করো আজিকার মতো
পুরাতন বরষের সাথে
পুরাতন অপরাধ যত।

French translation

Peut-être un ami, ou un ennemi
Où que vous soyez, près ou loin
Je ne sais point
Mais pour aujourd'hui pardonnez-moi
tous mes péchés du passé
tout comme cette vielle année. 

English translation

Maybe a friend, or a foe
Wherever you are, near or far
I don't know
For today forgive me please
Like this passing year
All my past sins. 

Metanoia

If you want to do your best

Go ahead

But if you want to be the best

Think again

ওঁমের প্রেমে মজেছে যে মন

ওঁমের প্রেমে মজেছে যে মন
সেই ভালবাসায় আছি ভেসে
দুঃখ পালায় এক নিমেষে
মগন হয়ে রই হে সারাক্ষণ
ওঁমের প্রেমে মজেছে যে মন।

ওঁমের ছলেই ও মা বলি
খেপার মত খুঁজে মরি
বন বাদাড় আর অলি গলি
খেলেন ত মা লুকোচুরি
ক্ষনিক ধরা দিলেই
ভেজে রে দু নয়ন
ওঁমের প্রেমে মজেছে যে মন।

কখনো ওঁ মেয়ে হয়ে
জড়িয়ে ধরে নেচে গেয়ে
আমি দুলি তারই সুরে তালে
ওঁমে চড়ে ঘুরে আসি
সকল তীর্থ কাশি বৃন্দাবন
ওঁমের প্রেমে মজেছে যে মন।

একবার আঁধার দেখি
তার এলো চুলে
আবার এক পলকেই পর্দা তুলে
দেন যে তিনি চোখটি খুলে
অবাক পানে দেখি চেয়ে
দুহাত তুলে বিভোর হয়ে
ও মা সে কি আলোর নাচন
ওঁমের প্রেমে মজেছে যে মন।