An Appeal to a River

The rays of the setting sun 

are now upon the algae deposited in my yard,

The children of atchala* started singing the last noon song 

instead of namta* 

The crow returning to the nest sitting on the dry branch of the banyan tree seems to be incorporeal,

The saints in the church no longer look at me,

I'm as if a worm-infested cupboard.

Once upon a time Rabindranath Tolstoy, 

Oscar Wilde Aristotle lived in my body

And even Sakti Sunil and Joy*.

But as soon as all the leaves of the tree fell one by one,

I saw thousands of foreign fighters are all over my body,

They were engrossed in cheers and destruction,

Submerged in the beautiful women. 

The extract of my collected cultures 

Are now in their wine,

Word ornaments today are scarred and bloody,

And I'm an ant-heap

But still, I could not be Ratnakar. 

Because of that, whenever I see the flowing river,

I say," Is there nobody to burn my body? 

I don't want to be an ant-heap,

I want to be Ratnakar.

Word meaning:

*1 Achala: A thatched room of eight roofs supported by bamboos but without any wall. Usually found in villages of Bengal.

*2 Namta: A numbered table. Children use to memorize it uttering loudly like poetry.

*3 Sakti Sunil and Jay: They are the distinctive poets of Bengal.