Sandhya, or Songs of Twilight (1917) is a poetry collection by Dhan
Gopal Mukerji. Published while Mukerji was a young student in
California, Sandhya, or Songs of Twilight is the second collection of
poems from the first Indian writer to gain a popular audience in the
United States. Lyrical and romantic, Mukerji's poems capture his
commitment to beauty while maintaining his sense of isolation and exile
as a young man living far from home. In "Symbolism," the collection's
opening poem, Mukerji is a poet in search of a song: "Tongueless the
bell! / Lute without a song! / It is not night / It is God's dawn, /
Silence its unending song." Desperate for the beauty and truth of the
world outside "pain's window," he finds "Faith's candle lit," lighting
"Eternity's scroll" for the soul to read at last. Lyrically gifted and
profoundly mysterious, Mukerji presents his creative process as a
struggle with human emotions. Later, he grounds his feeling in the
country he left behind: "O, frail, faint call which I seek to echo! / O,
breath of love laden with the aroma of my soul! / Why seek I ever
without, O guest at my door?" In "After a Bengali Song," he provides a
powerful image of isolation and longing from a heart that remains
"without" for as long as his exile continues. Although he never returned
to his native country, Mukerji left an inspiring legacy through his
literary achievement and unwavering commitment to Indian independence.
With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript,
this edition of Dhan Gopal Mukerji's Sandhya, or Songs of Twilight is
a classic of Indian American literature reimagined for modern readers.
