It’s finally happened. The orientals have decided to copy desis.

Download A Broken Hourglass.mp3 from FileFactory.com

You have to cross the darkness of the night

A desert vast and a hill of great height,

And an ocean, fathomless and dark.

Travellers, beware and look sharp.

The boat is trembling,

The water is swelling,

The sail is torn asunder,

And the boatman is losing his way,

Who will sit at the helm at this hour?

Who has the courage and the power?

The future calls your,

Come forward, all who are bold and true.

The night is dark, the storm is great,

You must look sharp, there  is no time to hesitate.

You must make haste or it would be too late

To ferry the boat across the other side.

The night is dark, Be your own guard.

your, soldiers of the country,

Age old grievances have declared a fight,

The deprived heart is demanding its right.

You must take them along, the poor and the weak,

You must make them strong, no longer mild and meek

You must lead them to victory.

O Captain, my captain,

The helpless nation is going under water,

It does not know how to swim.

I shall watch tonight

Your determination, grim yet bright,

To free the country from slavery.

‘Are they Hindus or Muslims?’

Who ask this question, I say.

Tell hime, my Captain,

The children of the motherland are drowning today.

Doubts assail the mind of the travelers still,

There is thunder in the sky and danger over the hill.

Captain, will you lose the way

And leave us in the lurch?

You must not waver or sway,

You must carry on the march.

Those who sang the victory of life

With the nose of the gallows round their neck

Come and gather round quietly today.

What price do you pay for that, friends,

What sacrifice do you make?

It is a test, dear Captain,

Do you save the country or the cast at this hour?

The boat is trembling,

The water is swelling,

Beware, my Captain, beware.

Translation by: Kabir Chowdhury

Say, Valiant,

Say: High is my head!

Looking at my head

Is cast down the great Himalayan peak!

Say, Valiant,

Say: Ripping apart the wide sky of the universe,

Leaving behind the moon, the sun, the planets

and the stars

Piercing the earth and the heavens,

Pushing through Almighty’s sacred seat

Have I risen,

I, the perennial wonder of mother-earth!

The angry God shines on my forehead

Like some royal victory’s gorgeous emblem.

Say, Valiant,

Ever high is my head!

I am irresponsible, cruel and arrogant,

I an the king of the great upheaval,

I am cyclone, I am destruction,

I am the great fear, the curse of the universe.

I have no mercy,

I grind all to pieces.

I am disorderly and lawless,

I trample under my feet all rules and discipline!

I am Durjati, I am the sudden tempest of ultimate summer,

I am the rebel, the rebel-son of mother-earth!

Say, Valiant,

Ever high is my head!

I am the hurricane, I am the cyclone

I destroy all that I fouund in the path!

I am the dance-introxicated rhythm,

I dance at my own pleasure,

I am the unfettered joy of life!

I am Hambeer, I am Chhayanata, I am Hindole,

I am ever restless,

I caper and dance as I move!

I do whatever appeals to me, whenever I like,

I embrace the enemy and wrestle with death,

I am mad.  I am the tornado!

I am pestilence, the great fear,

I am the death of all reigns of terror,

I am full of a warm restlessness for ever!

Say, Valiant,

Ever high is my head!

I am creation, I am destruction,

I am habitation, I am the grave-yard,

I am the end, the end of night!

I am the son of Indrani

With the moon in my head

And the sun on my temple

In one hand of mine is the tender flute

While in the other I hold the war bugle!

I am the Beduin, I am the Chengis,

I salute none but me!

I am thunder,

I am Brahma’s sound in the sky and on the earth,

I asm the mighty roar of Israfil’s bugle,

I am the great trident of Pinakpani,

I am the staff of the king of truth,

I am the Chakra and the great Shanka,

I am the mighty primordial shout!

I am Bishyamitra’s pupil, Durbasha the furious,

I am the fury of the wild fire,

I burn to ashes this universe!

I am the gay laughter of the generous heart,

I am the enemy of creation, the mighty terror!

I am the eclipse of the twelve suns,

I herald the final destruction!

Sometimes I am quiet and serene,

I am in a franzy at other times,

I am the new youth of dawn,

I crush under my feet the vain glory of the Almighty!

I am the fury of typoon,

I am the tumultuous roar of the ocean,

I am ever effluent and bright,

I trippingly flow like the gaily warbling brook.

I am the maiden’s dark glassy hair,

I am the sparke of fire in her blazing eyes.

I am the tender love that lies

In the sixteen year old’s heart,

I am the happy beyond measure!

I am the pining soul of the lovesick,

I am the bitter tears in the widow’s heart,

i am the piteous sighs of the unlucky!

I am the pain and sorrow of all homeless sufferers,

i am the anguish of the insulted heart,

I am the burning pain and the madness of the jilted lover!

I am the unutterable grief,

I am the trembling first touch of the virgin,

I am the throbbing tenderness of her first stolen kiss.

I am the fleeting glace of the veiled beloved,

I am her constant surreptitous gaze.

I am the gay gripping young girl’s love,

I am the jingling music of her bangles!

I am the eternal-child, the adolescent of all times,

I am the shy village maiden frightened by her own budding youth.

I am the soothing breeze of the south,

I am the pensive gale of the east.

I am the deep solemn song sung by the wondering bard,

I am the soft music played on his lyre!

I am the harsh unquenched mid-day thist,

I am the fierce blazing sun,

I am the softly trilling desert spring,

I am the cool shadowy greenery!

Maddended with an intense joy I rush onward,

I am insane! I am insane!

Suddenly I have come to know myself,

All the false barriers have crumbled today!

I am the rising, I am the fall,

I am consciousness in the unconscious soul,

I am the flag of triumph at the gate of the world,

I am the glorius sign of man’s victory,

Clapping my hands in exultation I rush like the hurricance,

Traversing the earth and the sky.

The mighty Borrak is the horse I ride.

It neighs impatiently, drunk with delight!

I am the burning volcano in the bosom of the earth,

I am the wild fire of the woods,

I am Hell’s mad terrific sea of wrath!

I ride on the wings of the lightning with joy and profound,

I scatter misery and fear all around,

I bring earth-quakes on this world!

I am Orpheus’s flute,

I bring sleep to the fevered world,

I make the heaving hells temple in fear and die.

I carry the message of revolt to the earth and the sky!

I am the mighty flood,

Sometimes I make the earth rich and fertile,

At another times I cause collosal damage.

I snatch from Bishnu’s bosom the two girls!

I am injustice, I am the shooting star,

I am Saturn, I am the fire of the comet,

I am the poisonus asp!

I am Chandi the headless, I am ruinous Warlord,

Sitting in the burning pit of Hell

I smile as the innocent flower!

I am the cruel axe of Parsurama,

I shall kill warrriors

And bring peace and harmony in the universe!

I am the plough on the shoulders of Balarama,

I shall unroot this mierable earth effortlessly and with ease,

And create a new universe of joy and peace.

Weary of struggles, I, the great rebel,

Shall rest in quiet only when I find

The sky and the air free of the pitious groans of the oppressed.

Only when the battle fields are cleared of jingling bloody sabres

Shall I, weary of strggles, rest in quiet,

I the great rebel.

I am the rebel eternal,

I raise my head beyond this world,

High, ever erect and alone!

Translation: Kabir Chowdhury

*for bangla version go to

http://victorian.fortunecity.com/canal/178/file/nazrul2.htm  *