10

I do not know where it is that the world seeks interest
in success and power; or a monument soars skyward high and proud;
or a fleet of ships all raise their masts to attach themselves to a cloud:
in this countryside of Bengal I have built my home, my nest;
at dusk a rook flies off to a palm-grove – with two straw-wisps pressed
in its beak – to a thicket of blue tamarind at dawn, crying aloud
a neem-bird comes – that tender heart is mine … a firefly-crowd
in a clump of berry-bushes delights me, leaves me distressed …

I have heard an owl-of-Lakshmi sing out in the desolate moon
on a kadam-branch – night-long I have heard tck tck tck tck the dew
descend – and the worn face of a fort has bid me enter soon
to a damp brick-crumble – the river murmurs something on its way through –
there’s no one about – but still to the intent ear there’s a word
on the wind in moonlight – Where are you off to on your horse, my lord?

In these poems infused with a scent of unrequited love, the great Bengali poet Jibanananda Das captured his country’s soul through evocations of village life and natural beauty. Written in 1934, the sixty-two sonnets – discovered in an exercise-book twenty years after Das wrote them – achieved instant popularity on their posthumous publication in 1957, becoming a totemic symbol of freedom in Bangladesh’s 1971 War of Independence. This is the first English version of the complete collection, which was given its title ‘Rupasi Bangla’ by the poet’s brother who edited it for publication.