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The Wings of Love Chokrobak (The Swan) Romantic Poems of Kazi Nazrul Islam Translated by Nashid Kamal Publisher: Nazrul Institute Price: Taka 100.00 Reviewed by AYESHA KABIR "Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought." This poignant line by the English poet Percy Bysshe Shelley couldn't be more appropriate if it were written to describe the poems of the beloved poet of Bengal, Kazi Nazrul Islam. Yes, he was a rebel poet, he had a fiery spirit of revolution, his head held ever high. But this same man was also a lover, a wild, passionate lover, at times scaling the heights of emotion to reach the zenith of ecstasy, and at times plunging into the nadir of despair, the abyss of despondency. Rejection and dejection echo often in his love poems. However, when Nazrul channeled this sorrow into his pen, the grief spilled like pearls onto the paper, giving us beautiful poems of love, of passion, of amour in all its hues, lilting lyrics where love birds cry in the agony of separation, where a feather floating in the breeze is heavy in sorrowful connotations. Desolate cries of the chokrobak echo an anguish known only by those who have loved and lost. It is Nazrul's collection of poems, Chokrobak, that Nashid Kamal has chosen to translate into English, giving the readers a look into the poet's romantic soul, into the depths of his passionate psyche. Admirably, Nashid has avoided the fatal error of most Nazrul translators -- she had not painfully adhered to a literal translation, but presented the poems with all the nuances and inferences intact. And, perhaps because she is a devoted Nazrul singer herself, she has also maintained the music of the poetry, the rhyme and rhythm which is so important in Nazrul's verse. You can hear the bill and cooing of the chokrobak and chokorbaki, the beautiful flying swans cursed to separation. Nashid Kamal, in her translator's note, explains why she chose this selection of poems. She writes, "As I leafed through the poems in Chokrobak, the painful episodes in Nazrul's life became more and more obvious to me and I marvelled at the analogies that he brought out in Bengali literature. This exquisite beauty could not be enjoyed alone, it needed to be shared and Nazrul's deep gash which oozed blood in the form of poems, could only be immortalised through translation." Before launching into the poem, 'Oh My Dear Chokrobaki', a glance at Nashid's notes may be helpful to the reader unfamiliar with the legends of the land. She writes that the chokrobak birds symbolise fidelity. They were reborn lovers who, in their former lives, had committed the sin of disturbing the meditation of sages. The sages cursed them so that they would never meet at night. The poem begins, "Oh my dear bird Chokrobaki While looking for you the Chokrobak lost his sight. Oh, where did you go? In which riverside Did you go, forgetting his plight?" Having established the separation of the love birds, the poem reaches a crescendo of anguish, ending with the last message of love from the bird to his lover: "You will look for me in the sea, desert Fields, mountains and valleys With that hope I leave behind A feather from my body On these banks An emblem it will be Of my melancholy My Queen! If ever you happen to come this way They will remind you of me that day!" The chokrobak's feather is like a verse from Nazrul's oeuvre, an everlasting expression of his love that remains even when he is no more, Like a bird flying through the azure sky, through clouds, sun and storm, Nazrul runs the whole gamut of love's emotions. If there is longing, there is also jealousy. If there is passion, there is also pain. In the poem Jealous, the poet asks, "Is it only jealousy that you seen in me? Did you not see anything else? You looked at the surface, all in vain. Never looked behind, saw the pain?" Nashid Kamal has managed not just to translate the words, but the emotions of the poet too, the maelstrom of feelings that evokes the question, "How can you comprehend The price he pays for his sorrow Just to look happy, just to light the earth?" Having read, sang, lived and loved Kazi Nazrul Islam since her early years, Nashid has developed empathy for the poet, which helps her introduce the poet to the world through the translated words of his poetry. Her grandfather, the illustrious artiste Abbasuddin Ahmed, was a close friend and associate of Nazrul Islam, and that has certainly helped Nashid reach a little closer into the poet's mind. Nazrul's poems are replete with tangible images where one can also feel the rain, see the silvery rays of the moon and hear the chirping of the birds. 'Bird of the rain-drenched night', is one such evocative poem which reads, "Oh dear bird, drenched in the Rains from the night The rainy night is over, even so Why do you cry 'Bou kotha kou' From the shefali woods so? When you couldn't get her in the rainy season Do you think you will find her in the hot months? Is there a reason?" The sylvan nature of the poems also gives a picture of Bengal, its lush greenery, its seasons, the incessant rain and the array of flora and fauna. Farewell to the Rainy Season gives a glimpse into the inherent nature of the land: "Oh fairy of the rainy season How far will you go? Your boat of ketoki leaves Is tied to the bank so!" ....................... ....................... The pollen of the keya flowers fades away They wished for your touch on the forehead anyway The flute cries for you on the banks of the river, filled to the brim They shefali flowers bathed in nightly dew drops Fall like the sad tears of the young maiden, trim." These lines are replete with the fragrance of the flowers, the incessant rains of monsoon, the river scene and more. Returning to the anguish of lost love, we find the poem, You Have Forgotten Me, to have all the hurt and reproach of unrequited love: "Let it be true that you have forgotten me All the lights that turned your promises into a glorious place Were not true, not true" This is a long poem, the length in itself emphasising the endless feeling of emptiness: "It was only a mystery, alas, without an end, without limit, deep, amending It was like someone who came in a dream It was a happy thought, it was sadness extreme." These conflicting emotions are pellucid in further metaphor: "As you came and sat next to me like a Fulfilled garden, I am the pond, you are the flower I felt sated, even if it was wrong There are as many flowers, as many thorns Where is the confusion? I will surround you with black water You are glowing in the middle, my flower." Returning to that ill-fated bird, we have another poem, Chokrobak: "Darkness spreads from one bank to another In between lies the sea of mystery On the bank every night cries the bird Chokrobak for his mate Chokrobaki." The names of the poems themselves speak of the poet's deep awareness of nature -- the rivers, the sea, the seasons. We have, Karnaphuli [a river running through Chittagong, replete with myth and legend], In the Delta of the Union, The Sea in Winter, The Girl on the Banks of the River and more. The poem, Girl on the Banks of the River, is reminiscent of William Wordsworth's poem The Solitary Reaper where Wordsworth writes: "Behold her, single in the field/Yon solitary Highland Lass!" In fact, as a translator, Nashid seems aware of the parallel and has chosen her words with care: "Oh lassie on the banks of the river! I float the boat of my songs towards you." The book ends with the poem Year 1400 (Bangla), where Nazrul refers to a poem of the same name written much earlier by the poet Tagore. The complimentary and complementary nature of the poem speaks of Nazrul's generosity of spirit. This is not the first time that Nashid Kamal has translated Nazrul. The Return of Laili is her first book of translations of Nazrul's poems. Her efforts are a symbol of her love and admiration for the poet, they are a gift to poetry lovers everywhere. The world has been deprived long enough from the beauty of this poet's works. Nashid has opened the doors.