(To Rafiq Sarkar, the revered Baul artist)
In the night’s gathering, waves of melody rise
From Atapara’s heart, where rhythms unfold-
Guru and disciple, in Vidyananda’s sarod, Dance the song of soil, of root, of old.
A hundred suns flicker on the edge of time.
Where creation crosses into gardens of bloom.
Hidden truths, notations etched in life’s script,
Return as festivals in winter’s loom.
All night, a fair of love in the soul’s deep fair, A sanctum built from the bricks of becoming.
Open the window of knowing-let wisdom’s tree
Grow in the artist’s city of clouds, white and humming.
In golden skies, stars gleam in melodic tide, In gardens of wonder, beauty finds its gaze. In the throat’s enchantment, cloud-trees sway,
Breathing green fragrance through mystic haze.
Translator : Jyotirmoy Nandy
