I know I am one among the forty crores of people
I have heard the announcement: the auspicious hour
Of my life has come and all cowardly thoughts
have melted away,
There is festival in my blood, please hold my
hand, Gandhiji,
We have fought, died and taken a vow here
We'll wade through their dead bodies and
reach the invincible kingdom
Came flood, came death, came the storm of war
Great Famine left its signature on every road,
Every moment I was afraid the whole
history was under threat
Yet I kept my spirit up, although besieged
by death, and heaved no sigh of despair
There are signs left in the burning ghats in
towns and villages
And face to face with many a death I have
sung firmly of victory.
That is why today standing here, close to
our dear dreams,
It seems we are all living only in you—
We have got you after scaling many deaths
You will stand like a wall in this
devastated land.
Raising your hand to the horizon in all directions
you have sent us a call
And see millions of people are throbbing
with life in villages and town halls.
Sukanta Bhattacharya
(Translated from the original Bengali
by Jagannath Chakravorty)