Unknown to you
All my songs are for you.
Like a leaf in autumn wind
Will you curl up against me?
Will you give me a drowsy smile?
To take away the sharp edge off life.
Do you want to share
The droplets of love in me?
Will that bring you peace?
I shall fade away- but life eternal
Shall hold you onto the earth,
- All my songs are for you.
I am the green in the meadows
And the blue in the blue sky
The colours are wrung out of Nature
And paint our lives – What a wonder!
Its ethereal – not in the sky
Nor in the ocean.
I have walked on a starlit night
To find – how the heart beats in her
For a man – in the cosiest corner of her heart –
The stars look on in silence
- How the heart beats in her for a man.
The world around speaks
And becomes mute
The fire behind the eyes goes out
Even the stars die out
And new stars are born in new times
The ancient stars fade out
And new ones brighten.
My love for that woman is offered in the pulpit – and I am the priest.
I am the priest – the priest.
The cold from the dead stars
Seeps into me.
You stare at the vigilant star
With the passion of the burning sky – and
Took comfort in the certainty.
The lights and the fires die out –
The cycle of time
Turns the present into the past.
But still the cold from the dead stars
Did not seep into you.
The meadows and the sky
Of this throbbing world
Belongs to you.
You are pulsating with life
With the gift of death.
Your sky is warm, but
The stars fade out with the cold of faraway space
The hearts , like falling stars
Drop with the noise of dewdrops.
You are so full of life
And don’t know how it feels
When I float away – like a leaf before the autumn wind,
Will you curl up against me ?
Your mind drowsy with sleep?
Your life will loose its edge.
Did you want to feel
The dewdrops in my heart?
I shall be gone – but the endless
Life shall hold you to this world.
And all my songs are for you.
The ancient stars fade out
And new ones brighten.
My love for that maiden
Is offered in the pulpit – by me, the priest.
I am the priest – the priest
The cold from the dead stars
Seeps into me.
You stare at the vigilant star
With the passion of the burning sky
And took comfort in the certainty.
The lights, the fires die out
The cycle of time
Turns the present into the past.
Still the cold from the dead stars
Does not seep into you.
The meadow and the sky
Of this throbbing world
Belongs to you.
You are pulsating with life
And with the gift of death.
Your sky is warm, but
The stars scatter thin in the cold faraway space.
The hearts , like falling stars
Drop with the sound of a dewdrop.
You are so full of life
And don’t know how it feels.
When I float away like a leaf in the autumn wind
Will you curl up against me,
With your mind drowsy with sleep ?
Your life will loose its edge.
Did you want to feel
The dewdrops in my heart?
I will be gone – but the endless
Life shall hold you to this world.
All my songs are for you.
, translated from “Nirjan Shwakkhar ( Silent Signature) ” by Jibananda Das, a bengali poet from Calcutta. Popularly called "Rupashi Banglar Kabi'' (Poet of Beautiful Bengal),Das is probably the most read poet after Rabindranath Tagore and Nazrul Islam in Bangladesh and West Bengal.While not particularly recognized initially, today Das is acknowledged as one of the greatest poets in the Bengali language.