Sri Aurobindo

Translations

CWSA.- Volume 5

Part Two. Translations from Bengali
Section One. Vaishnava Devotional Poetry

Twenty-two Poems of Bidyapati

6

In elders’ eyes she brooks not stay,

Half-clad no more her body but alway

She covers her most maidenly.

Yet with young girls when bideth she

Knowing her ripened child and budding may

They plague her with sweet mockery.

Maadhuv, for thee I wooed the sight

Of this fair flower; whom some delight

Child to call, but most agree

That woman’s morning bloom has she.

When of Love’s rites she hears and lovers’ play

She turns her downcast eyes another way,

O but her ears drink greedily.

Should with more words one tease her shame,

With tears and angry smiles she utters blame.

Who is wise in love alone knoweth

The ways of a girl, the poet saith.