World Poetry Day meets #Bangladesh50

For World Poetry Day I'd like to share with you this poem by the Bengali poet Jibanananda Das. I thought it was particularly apt as in just a few days it will be the 50th anniversary of Bangladesh independence, and I came across these verses while I was translating a chapter from the war journal of Jahanara Imam. (Read some other excerpts I have translated here and here.)

In the book, Imam is remembering how her son, Rumi, who fought as a guerrilla activist against the Pakistan army, would quote these verses. I loved the way the natural beauty of Bengal is depicted here, so I had a go at translating it.

Let me know what you think of it!

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