SRI AUROBINDO

Translations

from Sanskrit and Other Languages

II. From Bengali

Songs of Bidyapati

XXXI

Lotus bosom, lotus feet,

Justify, I charge thee, sweet!

Knowing the true love thou hast won

Will thou not love back, lovely one?

Love in true hearts gold surpasses.

To the fire golden masses

Double price and beauty owe.

Loves by trial greater grow.

Love, my sweet, ’s a wondrous thing

Imperishable in suffering.

Break it, but it will not break.

Love, like fibres of the lake,

Thrives on torture; beaten, grows;

Bleeding, thrills to sweeter rose.

Not from every elephant

Pearl-drops ooze iridescent,

Not from all lips accents fall

Melodious as the cuckoo’s call.

Every season is not spring,

Every man love’s perfect king,

Nor all women the world through

Always lovely, always true.

This is love, as sweet as rare;

Wilt thou spurn it, vainly fair?