Prolonged absence, Rabindranath Tagore and Walt Whitman

I am finicky about presenting english translations of Rabindranath to those who do not know Bengali. I have never read a truly gratifying (english) translation of any of his songs or poems. A chinese lady I met the other day told me that it used to be quite fashionable in her country to quote Rabindranath in letters between intimate friends. This gives me hope. Those of you unfamiliar with Rabindranath Tagore could read this insightful article by the economist Amartya Sen.
As for me, the unfinished posts on my edit-list have been piling up for a while now. But on the bright side, I discovered a poem in Leaves of Grass that pleased me to no end, for it gave me a glimpse of what a truly accurate translation of Rabindranath might read like.

A few lines from the song "Ei to bhalo legechilo" by Tagore:

"Durey jawar kheyal holey,
Shoba-e moray ghirey thamai:
Gayner akash, shojne phuler hathchanitey daakey amai.
Phura-e ne bhai khacher shudha,
Nai je re tai durer khuda.
Ei je eshob chotokhato,
Pai ne eder kulkinara
Tuchho diner gaaner pala,
Aajo amar hoyni shara."

And the poem from Leaves of Grass which is my ideal of a transalation of these lines:

Beginning My Studies

Beginning my studies the first step pleas'd me so much,
The mere fact consciousness, these forms, the power of motion,
The least insect or animal, the senses, eyesight, love,
The first step I say awed me and pleas'd me so much,
I have hardly gone and hardly wish'd to go any farther,
But stop and loiter all the time to sing it in ecstatic songs.