Bangla Poetry

Banalata Sen

Poem by Jibanananda Das

 

It has been a thousand years since I started trekking the earth
A huge travel in night’s darkness from the Ceylonese waters
to the Malayan sea
I have been there too: the fading world of Vimbisara and Asoka
Even further—the forgotten city of Vidarva,
Today I am a weary soul although the ocean of life around continues to foam,
Except for a few soothing moments with Natore’s Banalata Sen.

Her hair as if the dark night of long lost Vidisha,
Her face reminiscent of the fine works of Sravasti,
When I saw her in the shadow it seemed
as if a ship-wrecked mariner in a far away sea
has spotted a cinnamon island lined with greenish grass.
“Where had you been lost all these days? ”
yes, she demanded of me, Natore’s Banalata Sen
raising her eyes of profound refuge.

At the day’s end evening crawls in like the sound of dews,
The kite flaps off the smell of sun from its wings.
When all colours take leave from the world
except for the flicker of the hovering fireflies
The manuscript is ready with tales to be told
All birds come home, rivers too,
All transactions of the day being over
Nothing remains but darkness
to sit face to face with Banalata Sen.

Translated by Faizul Latif Chowdhury

 
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Comments

  • Shaheen , thanks for sharing this poem .

    I will try to explain my opinion with a few words  about this poem. 

    There is no sadness in this poem but sorrow
    The spirit of poems is sadness and enthusiasm but never sorrow
    "Sadness" is carrying inside of itself hope
    Sorrow hopelessness

    “transaction” is not a word of poem . It’s so cold for it. It's a sort of "official" word. Translator should use or find another word in english. Likely Poet had used suitable word in his own language.

    Translation should be very serious work. It need to labor and time . 

    Shaheen, I hope you are not angry with me for this pessimistic criticism . As you know it's not for you ... even not for poet as well . But for translation .

     

    • Thanks for your thoughtful comment Aragon.

      I appreciate your point of view, and I am pretty happy that it has drawn in a lot of attractions here, at first I thought, it might not get any reader at all.

      There is no denying that translation is a serious job. this poem has been translated by so many people that no one knows the exact number, even natives have done this translation. I haven't found any works of them on the net, maybe you might then be able to compare with one another and you might get an opportunity to choose likable one. To get further info on this poem you may visit the link Banalata Sen.

      I will appreciate it if you come up with this kind of constructive commentary for my own write-ups too. Thanks again for the comment.

      Banalata Sen
      Banalata Sen (Bengali: বনলতা সেন) is a Bengali poem written in 1942 by the poet Jibanananda Das that is one of the most read, recited and discussed p…
  • Indeed, Shaheen, I will join Rys's opinion. The poem is very lovely and touching. The author describes nature as someone's life....with huge experience, years, love and...well...pretty hopeless end... This is so evidently seen in the last lines as well as in the words  "I am a weary soul although the ocean of life around continues to foam.." 

    Let me thank you for the link you left under the poem. I like poetry, so I had a good chance to read some other works of this author...pretty nice ones, maybe you'll post a couple yet. Obviously, it is easy to trace that translation here doesn't reveal the beauty of the original language, but still, it sounds interesting, especially if the author tries to unveil his own life experience through the description of nature with all its versatility. 

    Thanks once again for sharing.

    • Thanks for your comment Olga.

      Nature is vividly represented in Jibanananda Das' poem, he is kinda William Wordsworth in Bangla poetry domain. He is closer to nature than William Wordsworth, from my own standpoint. Poets or writers' life shadow in their works I agree. The line you extracted here is one of the impulsive lines of the poem, and my favourite one as well.

      Translation is an extremely arduous and tricky activity. I am not sure how much the translation represents the original, and I am very happy to hear that you clicked the link billow. I have struck the site for the first time whilst looking for the references of the poem. Like you, I myself also amused at exploring poems collection of the site.

  • Oi Shaheeh,

       Thanks for sharing such a lovely peom, my sould was twanged by the quote:

    "All transactions of the day being over
    Nothing remains but darkness"

    • Rys, I knew you are the well-versed person in English, but what I discovered new here is your taste for poetry is profoundly deep and edgy. 

      Your finding is absolutely precious, we quote those lines frequently here 

      Thanks for the comment.

  •     The poem end up with unifying with the darkness  as if it is our last refuge after long weary days 

    It seems to be  a very meaningful poem . However  , much of poetry  great significant  is lost in the process of translate it to another language   . I wonder how is this poem in it own language  

    • The last four lines of this poem are much quoted here in our country. In fact, this is one of the much-read, as Wikipedia described, in Bangla literature. All other lines are catchy too, and widely quoted here. I agree with you, meaningful, and do not end up its appeal after reading the poem, somehow still the poem rest in your heart. 

       

      If you want to get full essence of this poem, I think it might be helpful to read more about Banalata Sen on Wikipedia. 

      Thanks for commenting Rosemary.

    •   I will for sure :) 

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