Sri Aurobindo

Translations

CWSA.- Volume 5

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

Twenty-two Poems of Bidyapati

Ah how shall I her lovely body express?

Fair things how many Nature in her blended,

Mine own eyes saw ere my lips praise.

Her twin fair feet were lordly leaves of summer,

Her gait vied with the forest’s best.

Upon two golden trees a lion slender,

Thereover the hills of heaven placed.

And on the hills two lotuses were budding

That stemless kept their gracious hours.

In shape of pearl-drops strung heaven’s stream descended,

Therefore not withered those sweet flowers.

Her teeth pomegranate-seeds on lips of ruby,

The sun and moon on either side,

Her hair eclipse, but coming never nearer

Hid not at all their golden pride.

The cuckoo’s speech, the antelope’s eyes has Radha,

And Love has in her glances thrones –

Upon two lotuses two bees that hover

And sip their honey: these she owns

The spring’s five children. O delicious maiden,

Not the wide worlds her second know,

To Sheva Singha Ruupnaraian my music

And lady Lochima doth show.