My love transcends all sense

(1564)  Je kabhu kache ase ni mor

He Who never approached me,
For His sake, eyes do weep.
He Who never spoke a thing,
Oh why have I held Him dear?

O'er sea and land, through outer space,
In hope of Him I roam apace...
But in my proximity, Him I don't attain;
On the strings of mind's lute He plays.

From a heart filled with yearning,
Having borne love-lacquered honey...
Itself again wretched making,
"When will I e'er find Him near?"

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From maya You keep aloof

(1563)  Amar dukher rate ele prabhu

Lord, on my mournful night You came;
You did not arrive on my happy day.
Through tears You allowed embrace,
But You weren't fooled by sly charade.

With springtime's flower-basket^[1]
And with worship's dish, kept embellished,
Yourself I found not, my arghya to offer;
But mental anguish You appraised and accepted.

In a game of smiles or fair of light,
I got You not at joyful time.
But on this same, pitch-dark night,
Your kindness I could realize.

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Opposites attract

(1562)  Tomay amay ei paricay

Betwixt You and me, as to this acquaintance,
No one knows from what hoary past it is.
You are my quintessence;
But one of us gets minded, the other does not heed.

When the litter of light rays arrived,
Started was the game of life.
The dark night got cast aside;
But one of us gets witnessed, the other does not see.

When the spring's mild wind blew in,
With floral beauty it got filled.
Flood tide appeared on the dry riverbed;
But one of us accepts wittingly, the other fathoms nothing.

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Let me not get distracted

(1561)  Asa ar jaoya caoya ar paoya

Coming and going, wanting and getting,
Staying alive is just within these pairs.
A flow of water, holding on to hill and sea,
Unity, the one like a river makes.

Many times arriving, many times departing,
Becoming lost in the midst of many a wasteland!
In the form of mist, once again coming back,
Hope's mirage, it summons me.

Desire, with or without reason,
Some is got, but much more is not.
On a measure of attainment, ignored is the One,
He Who clears away all of the fog.

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The night serves His purpose

(1560)  Meghe dhaka varasay vari jhara tamasay

Inside a downpour-darkness, mid a cloud rain-concealed,
I have gone on calling You through my tears.
By a restless wind, with its din echoing,
Kohl had been etched on the depths of psyche.

A blue-stibnite shadow over an effusive tempest,
Lord, what is this... a rock received its accrued tenderness!
After the flow of hailstones with their bellow of thunder,
In the dark have moved a heart's lost emotions.

I realize that this dark night will sometime be over;
All of this will reach an end, with daybreak will vanish.
Above my eyes on the far bank of gloomy ignorance,
A flow of light will be revealed at that hour gladdened.

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All-knowing One

(1559)  Ogo ajana pathik

Oh Voyager Obscure,
You left and stayed remote only.
So much am I calling You,
But You did not manage to hear.

In the crimson hue of daybreak's sun,
I'm calling You with devotion;
Rises on the sky at dusk
My fervent prayer in azure.

Like the dew-moistened night-jasmine
In a murchana dark blue of autumn;
Like the springtime's current of existence,
Like a floral-scented wind...

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Feckless reckoning... promise made, promise kept

(1558)  Balechile phire asbe abar

You'd said You will come back again;
In that same hope I count the time.
Having kept all yearning checked in mind,
A mesh of happy dream I weave.

Days come and go in hope or desperation.
Many dainty fibers get torn,
Many wings are impaired by hurricane and windstorm;
And with the rain, bolts of thunder roar.

Hey Most Tender One, amid the severity,
My fervent prayer penetrates into Your ear.
Even though You stayed afar, Intimate Darling,
Within heart Your song I hear.

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It's a world of beauty

(1557)  Gulbagicay raunin haoyay

In the floral garden, on a painted breeze,
With what mania does pollen keep floating!
With sweet magic and magnanimous psyche,
Flower-buds, what do they continue uttering?

A blossom, having looked up at sky-blue,
Peers down upon drunk mahul.
Sunflowers, having finished staring at each other's face,
They strew nectar to an unknown place.

What the bulbuls chirp in words of song,
The shimul blooms suppress, an ache inside their heart.
At the start of spring, fire having fallen twice,
Why do the palash take delight? Greatly they excite.

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And they call Him the Divine Thief

(1556)  Praner parag dhele dile

Heart's pollen You dispensed;
You left with psyche's nectar.
To know You, not having let,
Yet You discerned my all.

Outside was a brazen air;
In mind, a bashful craving.
All things mine, making disdain,
What gained You in exchange!

Tiny am I, great art Thou;
I exist in midst of Thee.
Obtaining me, did You gain anything?
Giving Yourself to me, You lost out!

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Transformational

(1555)  Ketakii parage surabhita rage

With screwpine pollen, with fragrant music,
You had entered ideation.
A lethargic one got coated with collyrium,
Intoxication smeared on eyelids.

With all good things of the universe,
And all that's bad discarded,
Both loving hands outspread,
On rosy feet, silently,
You had entered ideation.

Regarding my fitness, there was not a bit of it...
No sacrifice or self-restraint, austerity or sadhana.
You appeared, granting compassion unmerited,
At my core, in sweet fashion
You had entered ideation.

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My river, my glamor

(1554)  Amar nadii madhumati

My river, Madhumati,
O'er which country you proceed?
The love of River Padma taking,
You race toward the sea.

Brimming with your fruits and flowers–
Honeydripping, each and every one of them–
Sweet humans and sweet kush-kash,
With sweet eyes, do take notice.

Yourself I am loving;
I've remained, kissing your feet.
You are the beauty of what is Bengali;
Why, today, are you evaporating?

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Revitalized

(1553)  Tumi ele tumi ele

You came, You came...
To the whole universe a swing You gave;
You came.

The expectations that were in my heart;
The statements that were in my song;
The fog of hope and despair that was...
You lit the light, cloaking it all.

The fear and false beliefs that were concealed
Were full of sloth and fatigue.
The lack of peace that had been burning,
You replaced it with touch of vitality.

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My secret Lover

(1552)  Bhal go, pahare phuteche kata na phul

How marvelous...
Upon the hill so many flowers have blossomed!
A bracelet on forearm will I put on,
I'll bind a garland on chignon...
And on my ear I'll hang an ornate pendant.

Today, there's no oven-work in store for me;
Having tucked my sari in, I dance ever-swaying.
Husband's mother and sister have gone out for sardines;
But I behold, I perceive, the fallen buds inviting.

From the flower grooved drips a honey;
To the bloom distilled adheres a heady property.
Way over there is He Who is my life's Darling;
I await, I am waiting... plays a maadal without peer.

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Even in autumn the love abides

(1551)  Sharada prate sonalii ksete

On a Fall daybreak upon a golden field,
Oh Who art Thou Who came in dream,
In a dream, oh, in a dream,
Dew-capped night-jasmine shed
On a gentle grass-bed.

O'er kush and kash, mid clouds white
With blood-red tint of the dawn's light
And with devotion of the birds
In a sky, azure and tranquil...

Mid a psyche that is lost,
Your ankle-bells resound at heart's core.
The scent of fragrant pollen reigns
On feet, dark blue and without stain.

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Someone special

(1550)  Ankhi mele ceye dekho

Eyes opened, catch a glimpse;
Arrived is the Unknown Pilgrim.
With His bundle of affection,
A sweet smile He has lavished.

In mind had been nescience dark;
To which far place did it depart?
On flow of light inside prison of gloom,
A colored rose has now bloomed.

All those who are His heart's beloved,
Through Him only yearning be fulfilled.
Your frequent visits are just His;
Onward they have danced per His will.

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Uncultivated

(1549)  Madhumase mayakanane

In springtime, in a delusive grove
Have bloomed flowers, row after row.
Into them mind's nectar having poured,
He fits them out, full of love.

The champak bud that sneaks a peak,
It won't get hid by tender leaves.
The tiny bakul bloom and many-hued parul,
Eyes having opened, look around on all four sides.

Bela and Spanish jasmines give out scent;
Palash and red cottons with color overwhelm.
But ashoka buds, flown and grown in both worlds,
They peer upward, just for Him!

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With spring He arrives

(1548)  Tumi vasante esechile

With the spring You had appeared...
To young leaves neath rosy feet,
You infused sweetness
In a heaven of existence.

On blossoms You had smiled...
A sweet zephyr, by surprise,
Arrived upon mind's mirror
With implication full of love.

Then, there'd been in flower pollen
Fragrant devotion...
On tender leaves, the coating was
Of a dawn's crimson
In mind's ushering of spring dyed with red powder^[1]
And with golden sweetness.

Nature was kind in the month of Chaitra...
On heart and mind was heavenly splendor;
The southern wind was clean and pure
With song and dance on Earth.

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Come into my psyche

(1547)  Tumi eso eso eso mane

Into mind, come, come, please do come;
Only with You is my Earth ambrosia.
Searching, I rove about in cogitation;
Into mind, come, come, please do come.

On account of You I perform sadhana;
To please You is all of my worship.
Without You nothing more exists;
In Your jingling sound is great sweetness.

To the world I've come time and again;
I've understood one person, You, as the essence.
With You alone is this worldly existence;
Tranquility lies in only Your recollection.

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Sleep sweetly

(1546)  Bulbuli nace gulbagicate

In the rose garden, bulbul gambols;
Hawk-cuckoo sings its song.
Lest a bloom-bandit closeby come,
So their calling they keep up.

On petals struck with drowsiness,
The rose's honey-coating does persist.
With floral dust, a flower's love and devotion,
Inside it a scent gives thrill.

This day won't stay, everybody knows it;
The blossom falls silently into isolation.
Thus it just searches for aroma of sweetness,
In that unknown place, in that separation.

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Heartbreaker

(1545)  Kena esechile cale jabe jadi

Why had You come when You will leave...
You'd smiled just to make me cry endlessly!

Even now, in my pleasure garden blows a vernal breeze;
On octave, the Diipak Raag^[1] tells its story.
With the floral pollen floats a fragrant assembly;
Billowy is love's sea.

My moon has gone missing inside yon cloud ebony;
Heart's blood races toward it with vehement speed.
Those moved by music waken with devotion in prosody;
The ocean of emotion is overflowing.

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On wings of a song

(1544)  Tomay amay pratham dekha, kon se atiite

Twixt You and me the first vision,
In what ancient time was it?
In history it is not writ,
Nor is it in mathematics.

In geometry it is not etched,
Nor is it drawn with a pen.
On earthen pot or painted canvas, those lines,
They don't rise into sight.

Long before, when I've gone lost,
You did lift me up
Inside Your mind, a deep interior,
Through prosody and song.

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Why so sad?

(1543)  Jale bhara ankhi kena

Why are your eyes full of tears;
Who has given pain to psyche?
Tell me that story...
Your mind do speak.

Now, on this sunrise crimson,
Trees and ivy with the flowers,
They talk, overwhelmed by scent...
What's the reason for your silence?

With nectar, the southern breeze,
Heavy-laden now from early morning,
It cannot move on its way...
What's the reason for your angst?

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My everything in all seasons

(1542)  Tomay niye amar dhara

With You is the world of mine,
Illuminated by Your light...
You are there, therefore am I;
Around You circles death and life.

Under the scorching heat of summer,
For Your touch the heart yearns.
The rain that brings support,
That too is Your current, Lord.

Neath the bright-white clouds of autumn,
With night-jasmine colors mid tall grass,
And in the snowdrifts of prewinter...
Into all that loveliness You alone are packed.

From within the heavy winter fog,
Your anklets ring inside the heart;
Dressed in springtime hues and shapes,
Hey Vishvarup,^[1] You grant embrace.

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