Nargas-Bhai Vir Singh English

wide acclaim in their own right. The poems of Bhai VirSingh selected by him portray not only spiritualthrobbing of the saint poet, Bhai Vir Singh theyalso represent the mystic yearnings of a Sikh heartin general. When I first read this book several yearsago, I feltThe singing cuckoo has arrived,Her songs of spring are blazing high.These are not ordinary poems. These are songscelestial racing with emotion and charged with devotionfor the Guru. Whoso reads these poems shall repeatwith the poetA thousand quivering melodies shake my depths.This thought of Him is celestial music.My soul is now the heaven of song.Puran Singh, the translator of these poems, was apoet with bubbling imagination. Wherever his everthrobbingfancy was tickled by any thought of Bhai VirSingh, it soared into a creative spree of its own. Thatis why, at times, he did not hesitate extending animage, supplementing a metaphor or elaborating anarrative of the original. At times, where he felt thatthe poem has already become complete, he would, inhis translation, even do without a line or two of theoriginal. At times, he seems to fill a gap, particularlywhere the receiving language of the translationdemanded that.Puran Singh had great admiration for sensualbeauty. In his own original works, whenever he delvedeven into a spiritual theme, his poetry easily assumeda sensual tinge. This trend of his has brought somedegree of sprightliness in his translation as well. Oneoften senses the mingling of Puran Singh's sparklingstyle with Bhai Vir Singh's placid one. Yet, thePage 4www.sikhbookclub.com