When life feels heavy, the great Bengali poets still have something to say. This list is all Bengali: Kamini Roy telling her tears to stop and following one bright star, Jibanananda Das’s Suchetana and its faith in a kinder world, Sukanta’s prayer to the winter sun, and Satyendranath Dutta’s champa flower that dares to bloom in the summer heat. Each pick has a few lines from the original and a short note in English, and every title opens the full poem on The Poetic Land, free.
1থাম্ অশ্রু থাম্ (Stop, Tears, Stop)
by Kamini Roy Bengali Classic Poem
আজি হেথা আনন্দ উৎসব,
আজি হেথা হরষের রব—
থাম্, অশ্রু থাম্।
All around her people are celebrating, and Kamini Roy tells her own tears to stop: is the earth only full of sorrow? A 19th-century Bengali poem that still works as a pep talk.
2সুচেতনা (Suchetana)
by Jibanananda Das Bengali Classic Poem
এই পৃথিবীর রণ রক্ত সফলতা
সত্য; তবু শেষ সত্য নয়।
The wars, the blood and the success of this world are true, says Jibanananda Das, but they are not the final truth. One of the great Bengali poems about believing in a kinder world.
3প্রার্থী (The Petitioner)
by Sukanta Bhattacharya Bengali Classic Poem
হে সূর্য! শীতের সূর্য!
হিমশীতল সুদীর্ঘ রাত তোমার প্রতীক্ষায়
People without warm clothes wait through the long, icy night for the winter sun, the way farmers wait for harvest. Sukanta Bhattacharya's prayer to the sun is hope for those who need it most.
4আলোকে (In the Light)
by Kamini Roy Bengali Poem
আমরাত আলোকের শিশু।
আলোকেতে কি অনন্ত মেলা!
আলো দেখি ভয় কেন পাই?
এস, চেয়ে দেখি দশ দিক্,
‘We are children of the light, so why are we afraid when we see it?’ Kamini Roy asks us to look up and stop wandering blind in the dark. A short Bengali poem that turns fear into hope.
5লক্ষ্য তারা (The Guiding Star)
by Kamini Roy Bengali Poem
বিশাল গগন মাঝে এক জ্যোতির্ম্ময়ী তারা,
তাহারেই লক্ষ্য করি চলিয়াছি অবিরাম,
One bright star in the vast sky, and the poet keeps walking towards it without rest, even when the world is lost in darkness. Kamini Roy’s poem about a goal that keeps you going.
6চম্পা (Champa)
by Satyendranath Dutta Bengali Poem
আমারে ফুটিতে হ’ল বসন্তের অন্তিম নিশ্বাসে,
বিষণ্ণ যখন বিশ্ব নির্ম্মম গ্রীষ্মের পদানত;
The champa flower had to bloom alone at the end of spring, as cruel summer arrived, half afraid and half thrilled, like a brave nymph. Satyendranath Dutta’s poem about having the courage to bloom when the world is against you.
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