Kamini Roy’s Two Poems Translated by Srirupa MahalanabisKamini Roy (12 Oct 1864 – 27 Sept 1933) was one of the most influential writers of the Bengal Renaissance period. Roy was the first woman honours graduate of colonial Bengal. Born in the now Jharkhand, she had her early education from Bethune College, Kolkata. Roy is a powerful feminist voice, a voice so strong and forceful that it literally shook the established hegemony across different strata. She was one of the foremost to fight for women’s suffrage in Bengal. Some of her notable works include Alo O chhaya, Mahasweta, Pundarika, Pouraniki, Jibon Pathey, Malya O Nirmalya, Ashok Sangeet,Balika Shiksar Adarsha, Thakurmar Chithi and others. The unavailability of translations has made this poet inaccessible to us. It is time to give this Indian poet her due space.
Like
a fortress sadness filled
Not
even washed away by the tireless flow of tear drops
How
much pain resides in the dense hard snow
That
can never be melted by tears
Numerous
arrows face I in the crowd
Poverty-stricken,
cheerless roam men and women
Thinking
when in the peaceful nest, in the twilight of darkness
Forever
will sleep men that live in constant pain
You
and I do not have songs of woe
When
the feet is pricked with thorns, eyes turn moist,
We
do not bear those stones of despair
Beyond
words inextinguishable inner fire
Silent
lips, eyes are blurred
On
the forehead profound peace, similar to death
Not
once or twice, but thrice staring
Aloof,
in silence, offer your tears to him.
As
the Days Pass
As
the days pass, darkness overwhelms me
I
see not the divine light; hear not that oracle
Childhood
fancies, dreams I think countless
All
those yearn to believe as truth…
Of
my present condition, like many others
I
too move, meet chores: Oh! What feat
I
hoped, how noble could I do but
Awakened
to fetters in my hand cruel
Inability
ceases this life
Unceasingly
overpower, not a drop of strength
To
combat, bewail in vain
In
my heart hopelessness resides
In
the anterior depressing signs rubbed
Stopped
flowing tears, sigh, lament
Laugh
when the world laughs, but impossible
This
constant self-oblivion, what arcane warmth
Keeps
me awaken, underneath the oceans’ waves
As
hot current within the secret
chambers
Beneath
the calmness and felicity of life
The
river of despair streams perpetual.
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