LITERARY CORNER
Samar Sen and Shakti Chattopadhyay were gifted poets. With deep symbolism and brilliant use of metaphors, they take us to the deeper layers of human consciousness—its archetypes, its longing, its prayers. The New Leam believes that in this prosaic world we need the grace of poetry; it alone can soften us, and illumine our consciousness.
History
I called you: Come
leave behind your grey existence and come to me
across the tired stillness of your night
for here the glowing hope of dawn quivers
and the mountains turn blue at night;
when the deep darkness of the seas descend
the stars shine like blue flames
in the unyielding loneliness of the skies
You keep quiet and smiled
and in that tired poised smile of yours
I felt the restless impassioned sorrow of night.
- SAMAR SEN
Translated from Bengali by Pritish Nandy.
Just Once
Try to love just once—
you will see that in the river, stones fall from the breasts
of fish.
Stones, stones and water of river and sea
blue stones turn red, red turn blue—
try to love just once.
It is better to have some stones in the heart—
each sound made receives an echo.
- SHAKTI CHATTOPADHYAY
Translated from Bengali by Meenakshi Mukherjee
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