Theme: Birthday

Happy Birthday!

happy birthday.jpg

I cannot find a bridge
Between your birthday and my own days
Looking back from the verge of the approaching night
‘May you be happy’ this I wish.
 
Like the setting sun at the end of the day
Touches the earth’s forehead with its dying rays
Before leaving it pauses for a moment and says,
‘May you be happy’ this I bless.
 
The last hours of my life
Are like cattle grazing on the meadows
They are now tired under the twilight shadows
Only waiting to meet the evening stars.
 
At the eventide
If for a moment you stand facing the western sky
You will hear the last note of this cowherd’s flute
In that note you will hear the song
Coming from beyond the distant seas
It brings the tiding the fruit is ripe
And breaking all bonds
It is ready to fall from the branches of the tree.
 
From the passing night
You will also hear in that note
An ovation to the triumph of life’s journey
And a welcome to the morning light.

Translation of the poem Janmadine from the collection Bithika by Rabindranath Tagore. It was written at Santiniketan on 24th October, 1935 when the poet was 74.
 
Image © Getty Images

25-Feb-2012

More By  :  Kumud Biswas

Views: 1404     Comments: 4

Comments on this Poem

Comment Dear Dipankar, My translation pleases me because it has given me an opportunity to discover the real greatness of Tagore. 150th birth anniversary of the poet is being observed by the Bengalis in a manner that convinces me that he was born in a wrong place!

TagoreBlog
06-Mar-2012 03:36 AM

Comment Dear Kumud-babu,

Sorry to have arrived late. I went back and read the original and felt a strange melancholy. Then I read the translation as well and the mood didn't leave me. The second and the third stanzas affected me powerfully. As I read them again and again, I kept asking myself if is really gone. I think he hasn't.

Regards.

Dipankar

dipankardasgupta
06-Mar-2012 02:13 AM

Comment Happy to know you read the original, dear Dr. Mallick. It is a gem, but unfortunately very few reads it.
Thanks for the compliments.

TagoreBlog
26-Feb-2012 12:38 PM

Comment A great composition. I felt touched after reading the original. It is a bridge between the dawn and the dusk... full of hopes for the next daybreak!! Well translated, Kumud babu. Thank you.

Kumarendra Mallick
26-Feb-2012 10:37 AM


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