You shall remain forever in my heart
Even when you are silent
Even if the dense full-moon midnight
Seems even more quieter than you.
You shall pour in glory and sweetest odour,
Embellish the springs of my juvenile bloom
Craft my life, a teardrop on leaves,
My earthly universe with the silvery glow
Of the quietest full-moon midnight.
Your doleful eyes shall awaken in solitude
As your encircling umbra shall forever conceal me.
You shall overwhelm me with the ambience of joy,
As you shall brew the fragrance of peace
Into my distress, deeper into the sorrows
Into my desires, those fulfilled dreams…
The smell of a calm moonlit night.
You shall live for a lifetime in the core of my heart
Even if those nights surpass all realms
Of tangible presence, of the corporeal blossoms.
Indian Review | Literature and Poetry |
Translator | Subhajit Sanyal
The above is a translation of one of the most famous songs of Rabindranath Tagore. Written in 1895, the song ‘Tumi Robe Nirobe’
Tagore modernised Bengali art by spurning rigid classical forms and resisting linguistic strictures. His novels, stories, songs, dance-dramas, and essays spoke to topics political and personal. Gitanjali (Song Offerings), Gora (Fair-Faced) and Ghare-Baire (The Home and the World) are his best-known works, and his verse, short stories, and novels were acclaimed—or panned—for their lyricism, colloquialism, naturalism, and unnatural contemplation. His compositions were chosen by two nations as national anthems: India’s Jana Gana Mana and Bangladesh’s Amar Shonar Bangla. The Sri Lankan national anthem was inspired by his work.
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