Crisis Chronicles Online Library: My Bengal of Gold (by Rabindranath Tagore)

Find Your Way
Help Us Keep Going
Subscribe Via Email

Blog Post
Newest Additions
1. Recorders Ages Hence (by Walt Whitman)
  Sunday, May 27, 2012
2. Damage (by Lisa J. Cihlar)
  Saturday, May 26, 2012
3. The Three Beggars (by William Butler Yeats)
  Friday, May 25, 2012
4. The Base of All Metaphysics (by Walt Whitman)
  Wednesday, May 23, 2012
5. On Those That Hated 'The Playboy of the Western World,' 1907 (Yeats)
  Monday, May 21, 2012
6. The Wind Lass (by Lisa J. Cihlar)
  Tuesday, May 15, 2012
7. Of the Terrible Doubt of Appearances (by Walt Whitman)
  Monday, May 14, 2012
8. Joshua Clover - Million Poems Show at the Bowery Poetry Club
  Monday, May 07, 2012
9. science project, pocatello (by Chansonette Buck)
  Tuesday, May 01, 2012
10. Glimmer (by Carl Sandburg)
  Monday, April 30, 2012
Send Submissions to
jc@crisischronicles.com
Category Archives
Seek & Ye Might Find

Search only in titles: Keyword:

Search in:

Date Range:

Advanced Search

Basic Search
Recent Comments
1. columbia family dentistry on The String Quartet (by Virginia Woolf)
  5/29/2012
2. metallic prints on The String Quartet (by Virginia Woolf)
  5/22/2012
3. Jesus Crisis on science project, pocatello (by Chansonette Buck)
  5/14/2012
4. chris on science project, pocatello (by Chansonette Buck)
  5/3/2012
5. bianca on Cousin Nancy (by T.S. Eliot)
  5/2/2012
6. Jesus Crisis on When Helen Lived (by William Butler Yeats)
  4/29/2012
7. Fred Courtright on When Helen Lived (by William Butler Yeats)
  4/27/2012
8. metal picture frames on Dante's Inferno (part one: Cantos 1 through 11) - translated by Longfellow
  4/25/2012
9. Jesus Crisis on science project, pocatello (by Chansonette Buck)
  4/24/2012
10. channie on science project, pocatello (by Chansonette Buck)
  4/24/2012
Twitter
Founder and Editor

John Burroughs,
a.k.a. Jesus Crisis, is a pacifist, poet, playwright, musician, composer, bibliophile, and seeker in Elyria, Ohio.

Co-founder (with Dianne Borsenik) of the monthly Lix and Kix Poetry Extravaganza and the annual winter wordfest known as Snoetry, John is also the founding editor and publisher for Crisis Chronicles Press and a regular contributor to the Cleveland Poetics and Ohio Poetry Association blogs. Since 2011 he has served as the OPA's webmaster pro tem.

John founded a loose association called Poets of Lorain County, under whose auspices he's hosted regular open mic and featured poet events at the Avon Lake Public Library and the Lorain Arts Council's 737 Gallery, as well as the PoetryElyria series at Jim's Coffeehouse and Diner, the Scott M. Duncan Photography studio and other venues in his hometown.

John's work has appeared on stages in four states, as well as in numerous journals, and he is the author of five poetry chapbooks:

Water Works (Recycled Karma Press, 2012)

Electric Company (Writing Knights Press, 2011)

6/9: Improvisations in Dependence by Jesus Crisis (Crisis Chronicles Press, 2009)

Identity Crises by Doug Manson, JC and Bree (Green Panda Press, 2009)

Bloggerel by JC (Crisis Chronicles Press, 2008)

Two broadsides featuring his work, For Change Is and Low Kay Shun, are available from NightBallet Press.

Visit the Crisis Chronicles home page or his Crisis Blog to learn more about John.
Amazon Supports Us
Subscribe Via Feed
Monthly Archives
Join Our Blog Network
Follow this blog
May 2012

Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
1 2 3 4 5
6 7 8 9 10 11 12
13 14 15 16 17 18 19
20 21 22 23 24 25 26
27 28 29 30 31

My Bengal of Gold (by Rabindranath Tagore)

File:Rabindranath Tagore Hampstead England 1912.jpg

Rabindranath Tagore in Hampstead, England (1912)
photo by John Rothenstein

Bangla (Bengali) script	Transliteration	Literal translation
আমার সোনার বাংলা আমার সোনার বাংলা, আমি তোমায় ভালবাসি।	Amar Shonar Bangla Amar shonar Bangla, Ami tomae bhalobashi.	My Bengal of Gold My Bengal of Gold (Precious), I love you.
চিরদিন তোমার আকাশ, তোমার বাতাস আমার প্রাণে বাজায় বাঁশি।	Chirodin tomar akash, Tomar batash, Amar prane Bajae bãshi.	Forever your skies, your air set my heart in tune As if it were a flute.
ও মা, ফাগুনে তোর আমের বনে ঘ্রানে পাগল করে— (মরি হায়, হায় রে) ও মা, অঘ্রানে তোর ভরা খেতে, (আমি) কি দেখেছি মধুর হাসি।।	O ma, phagune tor amer bone Ghrane pagol kôre, Mori hae, hae re, O ma, ôghrane tor bhôra khete Ami ki dekhechhi modhur hashi.	In spring, O mother mine, the fragrance from your mango groves Makes me wild with joy Ah, what a thrill! In autumn, O mother mine, In the full blossomed paddy fields I have seen spread all over sweet smiles.
কি শোভা কি ছায়া গো, কি স্নেহ কি মায়া গো— কি আঁচল বিছায়েছ বটের মুলে, নদীর কুলে কুলে।	Ki shobha, ki chhaea go, Ki sneho, ki maea go, Ki ãchol bichhaeechho Bôţer mule, Nodir kule kule!	Ah, what a beauty, what shades, what an affection And what a tenderness! What a quilt have you spread at the feet of Banyan trees And along the banks of rivers!
মা, তোর মুখের বাণী আমার কানে লাগে সুধার মতো— (মরি হায়, হায় রে) মা, তোর বদনখানি মলিন হলে আমি নয়ন জলে ভাসি।।	Ma, tor mukher bani Amar kane lage shudhar môto, Mori hae, hae re, Ma, tor bôdonkhani molin hole, Ami nôeon ami nôeonjôle bhashi.	O mother mine, words from your lips Are like nectar to my ears. Ah, what a thrill! If sadness, O mother mine, casts a gloom on your face, eyes are filled with tears!

* * *

Posted by Jesus Crisis at 3/28/2009 5:16 AM

Categories: 1900s, Indian, Tagore (Rabindranath), Writing, Bengali
Tags: Indian Literature Rabindranath Tagore Amar Shonar Bangla Indian Poetry My Bengal of Gold

Trackbacks

Trackback specific URL for this post

Trackbacks are closed for this post.

Comments

Display comments as (Linear | Threaded)

3/28/2009 7:08 AM Elena wrote:
Bangles of gold? Mango trees? Flowering rice paddies? Sure beats Cleveland in the 1960s!! lol ;)
Reply to this
1. 3/28/2009 7:12 AM Jesus Crisis wrote:
  In either case - or in either place - that might just depend on whether you're a brahmin, a kshatriya, a sudra, or an untouchable.
  Reply to this
  1. 3/28/2009 7:41 AM Elena wrote:
    I like your comment...How true!!
    Reply to this
3/28/2009 10:09 AM Susan wrote:
Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder...
Reply to this
1. 3/28/2009 11:31 AM Jesus Crisis wrote:
  Absolutely true, Susan!
  Reply to this
  1. 3/28/2009 11:33 AM Comments from Facebook wrote:
    
    Charles Robert Hice , Helen Shepard and Haris Georgoulis like this.
    
    Nabina Das at 9:52am March 28
    
    i'll have to come back and read this... I am part bengali
    
    Christina M. Brooks at 10:50am March 28
    
    I can't imagine an American writing something about the USA like this.... he had such a deep appreciation and love for his own country... it seems almost rare now. Makes me think about how times have changed worldwide and how jaded we might have all become. The world as a whole has changed so much since he wrote that. I wonder if his feelings for his country would be the same today?
    
    Susan Berger-Jones at 11:24am March 28
    
    very nice.
    
    Charles Robert Hice at 11:38am March 28
    
    in mye android thinking this could be the reason we came to earth
    
    John Burroughs at 12:32pm March 28
    
    Thanks for your comments!
    
    Nabina Das at 2:05pm March 28
    
    love this poem, also a song. Christina asked a very pertinent question... I've wondered too. But reading Tagore's other work wd show that this poem was more of a cutural realization for him than a "nation"-centric ideal. Bengal was the cutural background for his most work, while this song acquired a nationalistic flavor because of the context of India's freedom struggle against British colonialism... And today, this song is the national anthem of Bangladesh, a nation-state, probably not what Tagore would have envisaged at that time!!
    
    John Burroughs at 2:14pm March 28
    
    Ahhhh... thank you very much, Nabina!
    
    Reply to this
    1. 3/29/2009 9:21 AM Elena wrote:
      What about America the Beautiful (from sea to shining sea)? This is sung here as much as The Star Spangled Banner.
      Reply to this
      1. 3/29/2009 9:57 AM Jesus Crisis wrote:
        Or as some Cleveland-area poet described it, America the beautifully dutiful....
        Reply to this