A slumber did my spirit seal
William Wordsworth
A slumber did my spirit seal;
I had no human fears;
She seemed a thing that could not feel
The touch of earthly years.
No motion has she now, no force;
She neither hears nor sees;
Rolled round in earth’s diurnal course,
With rocks, and stones, and trees.
The Navigator
(Punjeri)
Farrukh Ahmad
When will the night end, punjeri?
Still your sky overcast with cloud?
Your star and crescent moon not yet up?
You on mast and row blindfold;
Endless mist reigns the void now.
When will the night end, punjeri?
After this long night’s weary voyage
What sea’s dark horizon beckons us?
Is it the dim life’s gate wailing
On the strife torn dream of the painful heart?
Life’s triumphant sound recedes and dies slowly.
You on mast and I row blind fold;
Endless mist exists before me.
When will the night end, punjeri?
Idle passengers count days in the port,
Perhaps they hear our ship’s sound in the monsoon-wind,
Perhaps in the moonlight they see illusion of the sail in the mist.
Ah! those worried passengers keep them awake
On the sea-shore with unlucky destiny.
Where do we go roaming in this lost sea-track?
To what limitless distance?
The passengers are waiting on the shore.
You on mast and I row blindfold;
Lonely I see the night’s confusion around.
When will the night end, punjeri?
Only our callousness and neglect
Brought this sea-deep error for us;
Travelers wait on shore for our mistake
And observe their star and moon sinking down.
Our callousness has brought on them
This night of bad luck.
We have spread panic among the merchants;
We hear wailing coming from every door.
Is the wind lamenting? Is that the groaning of the hungry?
Is that roaring of the sea? Is that the anguish of the oppressed?
Is that the dying sound from the empty belly?
Punjeri!
Rise up to see the strong demand for explanation in the port;
Rise up with the silent frowning of countless hungry mouths;
Rise up and see, how far the morning,
How long to wait!!
Translated by Abdur Rashid Khan
Love in symbol
Shamsul Alam Belal
Someone may be there
Warm with the fancies of youth,
Pretty with the intrinsic beauty
And singing melody in sweet reminiscence
Of her first day meet with a dream boy.
Someone may be elsewhere
With the gleam of distant stars
In her eyes wooing and tempting
And longing in tender signs from the heart
Irretrievably broken into million pieces.
But here alone and carefree I am
With flowers breathing fragrance
And unfolding beauty to the world
As the moon sprays delight to gladden all
And the sea breaks waves on the beach.
The lovesick fairies of the heaven
Came down to this earth, splashing
Wings on the grasslands under the blue sky,
Away from the promise and emotion,
Away from the treachery and dejection,
Away from the blare of sound and roar of life.
My love is shadowed here in symbol
Like the drunken spring in an evening,
Dipped into solemn silence with no motion
By the alluring farewell kisses of a virgin girl
Who holds a blooming rose in her right hand.
