On the Nature of Love

From Chaitali (1896)

The night is black and the forest has no end;

a million people thread it in a million ways.

We have trysts to keep in the darkness, but where

or with whom- of that we are unaware.

But we have this faith- that a lifetime's bliss

will appear any minute, with a smile upon its lips.

Scents, touches, sounds, snatches of songs

brush us, pass us, give us delightful shocks.

Then peradventure there's a flash of lightning:

whomever I see that instant I fall in love with.

I call that person and cry: `This life is blest!

For your sake such miles have I traversed!'

All those others who come close and moved off

in the darkness- I dont know if they exist or not.

Translated from Bengali by Ketaki Kushari Dyson.