Nor spring deny their bright, appointed beauty
To lotus blossom and ashoka leaf.
Nay, do not pine, tho’ life be dark with trouble,
Time will not pause or tarry on his way;
To-day that seems so long, so strange, so bitter,
Will soon be some forgotten yesterday.
Nay, do not weep; new hopes, new dreams, new faces,
The unspent joy of all the unborn years,
Will prove your heart a traitor to its sorrow,
And make your eyes unfaithful to their tears.
Of flickering flame set in loam of clay –I care not …since you kindle all my darkWith the immortal lustres of the day.And as all men deem, dearest, you may beOnly a common shellChance-winnowed by the sea-winds from the sea –The subtle murmurs of eternity.And tho’ you are, like men or mortal race,Only a hapless…
Her chamber walls were richly inlaidWith agate, porphory, onyx and jade;The tissues that veiled her delicate breast,Glowed with the hues of a lapwing’s crest;But still she gazed in her mirror and sighed‘O King, my heart is unsatisfied.’King Feroz bent from his ebony seat:‘Is thy least desire unfulfilled, O Sweet?‘Let thy mouth speak and my life…
Bright and munificent lord of the morn!Thine is the bounty that prospered our sowing,Thine is the bounty that nurtured our corn.We bring thee our songs and our garlands for tribute,The gold of our fields and the gold of our fruit;O giver of mellowing radiance, we hail thee,We praise thee, O Surya, with cymbal and flute.Lord…
of thy glory and grace,Withhold not, O love, from the nightof my longing the joy of thy luminous face,Give me a spear of the scented keoraguarding thy pinioned curls,Or a silken thread from the fringesthat trouble the dream of thy glimmering pearls;Faint grows my soul with thy tresses’ perfumeand the song of thy anklets’ caprice,Revive…
Glides my heart into thy fingers, O my Love!Where the night-wind, like a lover, leans aboveHis jasmine-gardens and sirisha-bowers;And on ripe boughs of many-coloured fruitsBright parrots cluster like vermilion flowers.HeLike the perfume in the petals of a rose,Hides thy heart within my bosom, O my love!Like a garland, like a jewel, like a doveThat hangs…
among my tresses,A jewelled clasp of shining gold to bind around my sleeve,O Love! were you the keora’s soul that hauntsmy silken raiment,A bright, vermilion tassel in the girdles that I weave;O Love! were you the scented fanthat lies upon my pillow,A sandal lute, or silver lamp that burns before my shrine,Why should I fear…
