“Stop the Flute’s Note” Translation by Saptaparna Roy
Thamao Bnashari Taan by Swarnakumari Debi
Pain-ridden life, eyes blinded by teardrops, Whose way I watch waiting at the bank? Boats sail in hundreds, people come and go in numbers, Where is he, where is he, the eyes only keep searching. Will he come? Will he not come- stony cruel earth, Who is whose own here? Who surrenders to whom? Zero is the difference, no one pays a visit, All far, all alien, all here alone, alone. The end of an epoch passed; still, dark body of the evening, In the middle of the river hopeless death’s shadow trembles. From far the music of the flute carries whose speech? During the time of death, completing what great mockery! If you come, come close, why stand far off? Show the immortal river to the undying thirsty! A powerless emaciated body with a long revelation A living burial only continuing to stand. I will draw close- alas, do I have the strength! If you come, come close, why wait at the bank? Will you not come? Fine then, stop the flute’s note; In a cruel thunder I wish compassion ends!
Swarnakumari Devi was a poet, novelist, musician and social worker writing in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century.
