Name: Mohammad Shafiqul Islam
Hometown: Tangail, Bangladesh
Current City: Sylhet, Bangladesh
Occupation: English Teacher at Shahjalal University of Science & Technology, Sylhet, Bangladesh; Poet; Translator of Bengali into English.
Age: 38
What does poetry mean to you?
Poetry is very important to me. It gives me immense pleasure, astonishes me, accompanies me at my distress, sometimes takes me far away from the mundane reality, engages me in a distinct thought process, and also makes me happy.
Poetry is a second presence in my daily life – I sometimes speak to poetry, and it also speaks to me. Poetry is what does not let me sleep, leaves me in a space that is both known and unknown. Poetry, to me, is breeze that spreads love and peace. In another sense, poetry represents what happens around us every day, what we experience in our quotidian existence, how we see the world, nature and human beings, and how we feel after a certain shocking or pleasant experience. Through poetry, we see reality in a distinct way, we travel around the world, through spaces, and we discover something new. We strive to imagine a safer world through poetry.
Poetry continues to live, keeps us alive, and we cannot survive without poetry.
Favorite Poem:
Out of many wonderful poems from around the world, I would like to mention one titled “Banalata Sen” by Jibanananda Das.
Why do you like this poet/poem?
“Banalata Sen” by Jibanananda Das is one of my favorite poems—it is indeed one of the most read and acclaimed poems in Bengali literature. The poem has been translated by several translators into English; I have read both the original and the translated version of the poem. Banalata Sen is the name of a girl who is a paradigm of beauty—she stands beside the most beautiful women characters presented by poets, writers and artists. Female beauty is glorified in the poem. Banalata is the poet’s muse who is his eternal inspiration in the creative venture.
The poet sets words in the poem in such a way that one is reminded of a great work that is created out of love—words in the poem are like pearls placed one after another to form an eternal beauty. Reading the poem means walking through a serene forest path surrounded by trees where breeze kisses the leaves with a sense of grandeur.
বনলতা সেন
– জীবনানন্দ দাস
হাজার বছর ধরে আমি পথ হাঁটিতেছি পৃথিবীর পথে,
সিংহল-সমুদ্র থেকে নিশীথের অন্ধকারে মালয়-সাগরে
অনেক ঘুরেছি আমি; বিম্বিসার-অশোকের ধূসর জগতে
সেখানে ছিলাম আমি; আরও দূর অন্ধকারে বিদর্ভ নগরে;
আমি ক্লান্ত প্রাণ এক, চারিদিকে জীবনের সমুদ্র সফেন,
আমারে দু-দন্ড শান্তি দিয়েছিল নাটোরের বনলতা সেন ।
চুল তার কবেকার অন্ধকার বিদিশার নিশা,
মুখ তার শ্রাবস্তীর কারুকার্য; অতিদূর সমুদ্রের পর
হাল ভেঙ্গে যে নাবিক হারায়েছে দিশা
সবুজ ঘাসের দেশ যখন সে চোখে দেখে দারুচিনি-দ্বীপের ভিতর,
তেমনি দেখেছি তারে অন্ধকারে; বলেছে সে, ‘এতদিন কোথায় ছিলেন?’
পাখির নীড়ের মত চোখ তুলে নাটোরের বনলতা সেন।
সমস্ত দিনের শেষে শিশিরের শব্দের মত
সন্ধ্যা আসে; ডানার রৌদ্রের গন্ধ মুছে ফেলে চিল;
পৃথিবীর সব রঙ নিভে গেলে পান্ডুলিপি করে আয়োজন
তখন গল্পের তরে জোনাকির রঙে ঝিলমিল;
সব পাখি ঘরে আসে – সব নদী – ফুরায় এ জীবনের সব লেনদেন;
থাকে শুধু অন্ধকার, মুখোমুখি বসিবার বনলতা সেন।
BANALATA SEN
For a thousand years I have walked the ways of the world,
From Sinhala’s Sea to Malaya’s in night’s darkness,
Far did I roam. In Vimbisar and Ashok’s ash-grey world
Was I Present; farther off, in distant Vidarba city’s darkness,
I, a tired soul, around me, life’s turbulent, foaming ocean,
Finally found some bliss with Natore’s Banalata Sen.
Her hair was full of the darkness of a distant Vidisha night,
Her face was filigreed with Sravasti’s artwork.As in a far-off sea,
The ship-wrecked mariner, lonely, and no relief in sight,
Sees in a cinnamon isle sings of a lush grass-green valley,
Did I see her in darkness; said she, ”Where had you been?”
Raising her eyes, so bird’s nest like, Natore’s Banalata Sen.
At the end of the day, with the soft sound of dew,
Night falls; the kite wipes the sun’s smells from its wings;
The world’s colors fade; fireflies light up the world anew;
Time to wrap up work and get set for the telling of tales;
All birds home ─ rivers too ─ life’s mart close again;
What remains is darkness and facing me ─ Banalata Sen!
Translated by Fakrul Alam