The lyrics of Nazrul’s ‘Aamar Shyamla Boron Bangla Mar Roop’ (The Dusky Beauty of My Motherland, Bengal) has been translated from Bengali by Professor Fakrul Alam
Come, come behold my evergreen Bangla motherland’s beauty.
Its loveliness is hued across green hills, gorges, forests and expanses.
The view of paddy fields and forest enhance my green mother’s beauty!
At dust-coloured bends of the road, a mendicant lute keeps playing.
Anxiously, a belle walks in the village on her own.
Across a deserted village field, she lays loam, straw and wet clay
And then spreads dewdrops with a brush made of mercy.
The lotuses on the dark pond water reflect her lotus-hued face.
Wildly, the girl keeps playing with tigers and bears in the forest.
Dancing to storm beats she makes snakes dance like a bede woman.
In the river’s currents, her bracelet made of pebbles keep sounding.
With a dotted forehead, she stands in a balcony amidst evening stars
While in the early morning she ambles to the stream side to fill her pitcher.
Click here to hear the song in Bengali by Manabendra Mukhopadyay (died in 1992)
Born in united Bengal, long before the Partition, Kazi Nazrul Islam (1899-1976) was known as the Bidrohi Kobi, or “rebel poet”. Nazrul is now regarded as the national poet of Bangladesh though he continues a revered name in the Indian subcontinent. In addition to his prose and poetry, Nazrul wrote about 4000 songs.
Fakrul Alam is an academic, translator and writer from Bangladesh. He has translated works of Jibonananda Das and Rabindranath Tagore into English and is the recipient of Bangla Academy Literary Award (2012) for translation and SAARC Literary Award (2012).
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Click here to access Wild Winds: The Borderless Anthology of Poems
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