Sunil Gangopadhyay poems

Sunil Gangopadhyay(7 September 1934 - / Faridpur / Bangladesh (British India))
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Easy

- by Sunil Gangopadhyay 19

With ease I make a million flowers bloom,
All at once I light up some suns, moons, stars,
In a passing whim I blow out the moonlight
(Remember that moonlight?) or the sunlight (remember that too?).

Don't believe a thing my detractors say.
They might say that I am a child or a fool,
or a magician, ---
Ragged tents, broken drums, patches
on his black coat, but look what a deadly dance he's dancing
on the pupils of her eyes, onlookers aren't fooled, they laugh
but the girl will hear no reason oh how she ails from this dose
of illusion;---Don't believe them.

Hey you revilers, look,
look with what ease I hold up the three worlds---
on the little finger of my left hand.
The darkness, the seas, hills all look on amazed,
You, only you, have forgotten the language of surprise!
Come on into my house, and see what a wondrous house I keep.
The roof overhead---see, but no walls have I on the sides,
(Bounded by walls all round, dreams and phlegm in your hearts,
marking age on your fingers, drawing fancy pictures on walls,
carefully you guys will live!)
While look in my house breezes of all kinds
like faithful retainers move around, brush away cobwebs,
test colors on cornices, busy day and night.
I sit in my wall-less room and paint on the girl's pupils,
Much easier this than making pictures without.

Go back, you revilers, you are foolish children, and you,
Don't believe them when they call me magician.

[Translated from Bengali poem 'Sahaj' by Nandini Gupta]

Ephemeral

- by Sunil Gangopadhyay 19

Neera, sometimes, it seems
you are more distant
than even the day I was born.
You walk alone --
in the autumn-woods.
The rustle of leaves
under your tender feet,
fill the air!
The mountains, sloped like a bullock's neck
meet the horizon,
and the evening sun
resounding its victory-cymbals
sets behind those hills.
All these, Neera, seem more distant
than even the day I was born.

Sometimes, when I've looked at the sky,
I've seen a dying star.
I feel a shiver in my heart,
my eyes come down to the earth
and to the world all around.
At those times, Neera,
I feel a strong desire
to fight all that is born to die!
I wish to place the flag of the Heavens
in your almond-hued palm,
and tell the whole world,
that the ray of mystical light
falling on your chin,
shall stay arrested, forever.
At that moment,
in the distant leafstrewn woods,
I see your enigmatic smile!

You know Neera,
that the white pigeons that fly in the evening sky,
even they are obscured by darkness!
like the light of our eyes,
and like all worldly sorrows!
It's only the misery of man
that stretches beyond his lifetime.

[Translated from Bengali poem 'Nashbar' by Sheila Sengupta]

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Poems by Sunil Gangopadhyay, Sunil Gangopadhyay's poems collection. Sunil Gangopadhyay is a classical and famous poet (7 September 1934 - / Faridpur / Bangladesh (British India)). Share all poems of Sunil Gangopadhyay.

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