There is Only One Race in the World

A Poem On Universal Humanity

To get the Poetry Challenge rolling, here is a poem written by the great Bengali poet, Satyendranath Dutta (1882 – 1922) – photo below.

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There is only one race in the world,
And that is the human race,
Nourished with the milk of the same Mother Earth,
Dwelling within the same compass of the sun and the moon.

The same heat and cold, hunger and thirst,
We all equally feel.
Together we raise tender green plants and make them strong.
We all struggle to preserve our lives.

We seek friends and comrades and build happy homes,
We all drown in water, we all thrive on land.
Black and white are merely external hues –
Internally the blood of all is red.

By penetrating below the surface,
The true inner nature is instantly revealed.
The Brahman and the outcaste, the great and the small,
Are all artificial distinctions that ultimately crumble to dust.

When love awakens in sleeping souls,
Then true human beings will emerge.
There is no difference between one colour, one race, and another
For the entire universe is pervaded by one Infinite Consciousness.

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Here is the original Bengali verse:

Jagat juŕiyá ek játi áche
Se játir nám mánuśa játi;
Ek prthiviir stanye pálita
Eki ravi-shashii moder sáthii.

Shiitátapa, kśudha-trśńár jválá
Sabái ámrá samán bujhi;
Kaci-káṋcáguli d́áṋto kare’ tuli
Báṋcibár taŕe samán yujhi.

Dosar khuṋji o básar báṋdhi go
Jale d́ubi, báṋci páile d́auṋá;
Kálo ár dhalo báhire keval
Bhitare sabái samán ráuṋá.

Báhirer chop áṋcaŕe se lop
Bhitarer rauṋ palake phot́e.
Bámuń-shúdra, brhat kśudra
Krtrim bhed dhúláy lot́e.

Ráge anuráge nidrita jáge
Ásal ḿánuś prakat́ hay;
Varńe varńe náhika visheś
Nikhil bhuvan Brahmamaya.

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