Sometimes it so happens that a song or a tune or even a word catches hold of my attention and refuses to let go. It keeps on playing inside my head and sometimes becomes synonymous with my perception and conception of beauty. So has happened with this Rabindrasangeet that I was singing in the evening today. Though I have sung it many times before, the song in all it's beauty surrendered to me only this evening. I have made an attempt to translate it, keeping to the translation word-by-word method, because translating Tagore by the sense of his song is beyond me,I humbly admit.

Deep nibhe gechhe momo nishithosameer e

Dheere dheere eshe tumi jeo na go fire.

E pothe jokhon jabe aandhaare chinite pabe

Rajanigandhaar gondho bhorechhe mandir e.

Amare poribe mone kokhon shey laagi

Prohore prohore ami gaan geye jaagi

Bhoy pachhe shesh raat e

ghum ashe aankhi paat e

Klanto kontthe mor sur furaay jodi re.

here follows my translation

My lamp has extinguished, in the nightly breeze.

Quietly you tread, in soft unheard steps.

O do not turn back and walk away!

When you walk this path, in the darkness of night

By the fragrance of rajanigandha

In the temples by the roadside

You shall know I am near.

I wait for you to remember me,

I keep awake, singing the hours away.

But a fear haunts me…

Slumber might steal into my eyes

Late in the night,

The song might cease upon my weary lips.

Quietly you tread, in soft unheard steps.

O do not turn back and walk away!