Your Call

by Kumud Biswas

Again and again I ask
To meet me
Keeping a place in an exclusive corner
Where by the wayside you wait?
Sensing a hint in the air I have rushed
Where the grasses are basking in light
And are drenched in dew
Where the place is covered with flowers
And is filled with fragrance.
I have searched you on the banks of the murmuring stream
That endlessly flows on.
I have wanted to see you in the corner of the sky
Where the clouds in their myriad colours
Create a mysterious world.
I have heard your flute all day long
Playing among the branches of the trees
Where the dove sings on.

How should I know whence you call?
Suddenly I hear your dreaded bugle.
Shy I don’t feel any urge to rush out
In demur I delay at the door –
You call me where men are oppressed
They are humiliated
Where they see no rays of hope in fear
Your bugle calls me there
Where they cry in the prison in pain
I hear your bugles there
Shaken by a tremor
Where the foundations tumble
Where a flame long hidden in dust
Violently shakes up everything all around
Snapping in a moment all age old bonds.

Translation of the poem Aohban from the collection Parishesh by Rabindranath Tagore. Written at Singapore harbour on 4th Shravan, 1334 BS (1937) when the poet was 77 years of age. The original is at http://www.rabindra-rachanabali.nltr.org/node/11987.

22-May-2011

More By : Kumud Biswas

Views: 2121 Comments: 4

Comments on this Poem

Thank you Dr. Mallick for reading and commenting. I wish I could contribute more from Tagore!

TagoreBlog
30-May-2011 22:40 PM

All poems by Tagore like this one are very touching, the nature is predominant in the poet's mind; that is why all of us enjoy to read them, and relate to us. You are visiting Boloji ater a very long time, Thank you.

Kumarendra Mallick
30-May-2011 22:23 PM

Thank you, Dipankar. It seems that only 10 to 15 percent of Tagore poems are familiar to the common Bengalis -not to speak of others there are so many gems which are unknown even to us Bengalis .

TagoreBlog
24-May-2011 00:33 AM

Excellent piece.

dipankardasgupta
23-May-2011 22:45 PM