Bengali Translation of Sonnet 138: When My Love Swears That She Is Made Of Truth by William Shakespeare. শেক্সপিয়ারের সনেট ১৩৮ এর বঙ্গানুবাদ

Sonnet 138: When My Love Swears That She Is Made Of Truth,

William Shakespeare

When my love swears that she is made of truth,

I do believe her though I know she lies,

That she might think me some untutored youth,

Unlearned in the world's false subtleties.

যখন আমার প্রেমিকা দিব্যি দিয়ে বলে যে সে ভালোবাসায় সৎ

আমি তাকে বিশ্বাস করি যদিও আমি জানি সে মিথ্যা কথা বলছে

সে হয়তো আমায় মনে করে অনভিজ্ঞ যুবক

বা অশিক্ষিত এই মিথ্যার , ধূর্ত পৃথিবীতে।

Thus vainly thinking that she thinks me young,

Although she knows my days are past the best,

Simply I credit her false-speaking tongue:

On both sides thus is simple truth suppressed:

এইভাবে আমি অযথাই ভেবে যাচ্ছি যে সে আমায় এখনও যুবক ভাবে

যদিও সে জানে আমার যৌবনের দিন গুলি পার হয়ে গেছে

সোজা ভাবে বলতে, আমি তার মিথ্যা বলার জিহ্বা কে সন্মান দিচ্ছি

তাই উভয় দিক থেকেই আমরা সত্য কে চেপে রাখছিঃ

But wherefore says she not she is unjust?

And wherefore say not I that I am old?

O! love's best habit is in seeming trust,

And age in love, loves not to have years told:

কিন্তু কেন সে বলছে না যে সে অন্যায় করছে ?

এবং কেন সে বলছে না যে আমি বৃদ্ধ হয়ে গেছি?

ও! ভালোবাসায় বিশ্বাসের ভান করা টাই সবচেয়ে ভালো প্রথা

এবং ভালোবাসায় বৃদ্ধ প্রেমিক কখনই সঠিক করে বলে নাঃ

Therefore I lie with her, and she with me,

And in our faults by lies we flattered be.

তাই আমি তাকে মিথ্যা বলি এবং সে আমায় মিথ্যা বলে

এবং এই ভাবে আমরা উভয় ই মিথ্যার দ্বারা প্রতারিত হচ্ছি।

SUBSTANCE

Shakespeare is growing old, while his mistress is still young. His mistress tells him that she is in love with him, thus giving him the impression that he is still a young man. He believes her when she tells him that she loves him, even though he knows well that she has told him a lie. Thus there is a suppression of the truth on both sides. He does not frankly tell her that he is now an old man; and she does not frankly tell him that she does not really love him. Each of them thus tries to throw dust into the eyes of the other. The reason for this state of affairs is that both the man and the woman put up a pretence that they trust each other. And the result of this attitude on the two sides is that they enjoy sexual pleasure in each other's embraces and feel flattered thereby. Here, then, is a sonnet in which the truth about the supposed love between an old man and a younger woman has bluntly been stated. Shakespeare does not mince matters here. He has given us the right analysis of the working of the mind of a man who is old or who is growing old, and the working of the mind of a woman who is considerably younger. We all know that cases of true love in this world are very few as compared to the number of cases of pretended or false love. In most cases love is nothing more than lust, as in the present case dealt with by Shakespeare in this sonnet. But the sonnet is an interesting one, apart from being a revealing one. We feel pleased whenever any of our own beliefs is confirmed by a great author. Among its merits is the fact that this sonnet is most lucidly written and is thoroughly intelligible to us.