• Parabaas
    Parabaas : পরবাস : বাংলা ভাষা, সাহিত্য ও সংস্কৃতি
  • পরবাস | Shakti Chattopadhyay | Poem
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  • I could go. But why would I? : Shakti Chattopadhyay
    translated from Bengali to English by Nandini Gupta

    I could go. But why would I?
    (যেতে পারি, কিন্তু কেন যাবো?)


    Time to turn back. I think. Too long
    I've blackened my hands!
    Yet never knew you, as you would.

    Now when I stand at a cliff edge at night
    The moon calls: Come, come.
    On the bank of the Ganga in my sleep
    The pyre calls: Come, come.

    I could go.
    Whenever. Wherever.
    But why? Would I?

    I shall plant a kiss on my child’s face.

    I shall go.
    But not just now.
    Each one of you I shall take along.
    I shall not go alone. Not before it is time.

    The original poem 'Jete pari, kintu keno jabo?' (যেতে পারি, কিন্তু কেন যাবো?) was included in the book ('Ami chole jete pari', আমি চলে যেতে পারি) published first in April 1980 by Samakal (সমকাল).
    Parabaas, October, 2020
    Illustrated by Nilanjana Basu.
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