Kazi Nazrul Islam (May 24, 1899 – August 29, 1976) was a Bengali polymath, poet, writer, musician and revolutionary.
Popularly known as Nazrul, his poetry and music espoused Indo-Islamic renaissance and intense spiritual rebellion against fascism and oppression. Nazrul’s impassioned activism for political and social justice earned him the title of the Rebel Poet. Accomplishing a large body of acclaimed works through his life, Nazrul is officially recognized as the national poet of Bangladesh and highly commemorated in India and the Muslim world.
Nazrul’s writings explore themes such as love, freedom, and revolution; he opposed all bigotry, including religious and gender. Throughout his career, Nazrul wrote short stories, novels, and essays but is best known for his poems, in which he pioneered new forms such as Bengali ghazals. Nazrul wrote and composed music for his nearly 4,000 songs (including gramophone records), collectively known as Nazrul geeti (Nazrul songs), which are widely popular today.
ADORN HER
Kazi Nazrul Islam
How can I adorn her,
With one basketful of flowers?
The sky is overcast
With her disheveled
Cloudy hair,
Oh, how can I adorn her?
Why have you, oh gardener,
Given me so few flowers,
That they should disappear
Before I could adorn her?
Ketaki the monsoon’s bride
Putting the veil aside.
Behind thorny secret,
Woodland hides.
The unruly Kamini withers
Before I can touch her.
Drunk in her own fragrance
The tipsy chapa dances.
The shameless damsel Togor
Looks with her big eyes.
But before she could wither
The poor Bokul dies.
AT MIDNIGHT I SUDDENLY WAKE UP
Kazi Nazrul Islam
At midnight I suddenly wake up hearing someone’s voice
is that you, is that you?
I feel the load of some memory in my breast –
is that you, is that you?
Some one’s hungry love roams about seeking aIms
Some one’s piteous eyes like the stars in the night-sky
look at the sought-after face – is that you, is that you?
The wind at night carries someone’s lingering sigh
And stirs my heart; Oh my distant beloved
is that you, is that you?
Like the ocean-wave whose crying bruises my heart
The nightingale in the wood ceaselessly chirps on the champah tree
is that you, is that you ?