Buddhadeva Bose

Now the battle is against the world, this world,
with me on one side, on the other your eyes silent, deep;
between us the meandering, dizzying path of this world.

The people of the world stretch out their hands to draw
a red line between us; they divide us with their arms
stretched out like quivering, poisonous snakes.

Before my eyes, your breasts sway like halcyon
dreams; like day-dreams your hair unravels upon
my chest; my heart quivers like a bird

caught in the storm; whom shall we fear?
We know what lies beyond the next bend---
it is you---you and me; then for whom else

shall we have eyes? To my eyes your breasts
are like halcyon dreams; on your breasts
my hands eager, warm; at my touch your breasts

flood over, like the mighty currents of a blind, invisible
river; they wipe away all vestiges of this unruly
world; only the powerful torrents of this huge, dark

river remain, where we are the victors, we are one, you
and I---how beautiful, how divinely beautiful these words---
You, --- you and I.

Translated by Nandini Gupta [nandinI gupta*] - Nandini Gupta is a post-doctoral research fellow at the Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands, working on ... (more)

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* To learn more about the ITRANS script for Bengali, click here.