Caanou to see I had desire,Sri Aurobindo
Translations
CWSA.- Volume 5
Part Two. Translations from Bengali
Section One.
Vaishnava Devotional Poetry
Selected Poems of Bidyapati
6
Caanou seen, my life grew fire.
Thenceforth deep down, ah, foolish I,
In a great sea of love I lie.
Hardly I know, a girl and weak,
What these words mean my heart would speak.
Only my soul burns in its pain.
Ah wherefore, friend, did mine eyes see,
Friend of my bosom, thoughtlessly?
When a little mirth was all I planned,
I have given my life into another’s hand.
I know not what this lovely thief
Did to me in that moment brief.
Surely such craft none yet possessed!
He robbed my heart out of its nest
Only with seeing, and gone is he
Taking my poor heart far from me.
And ah! his eyes did then express
Such tenderness, such tenderness,
The more I labour to forget
My very soul remembers it.
Mourn not, sweet girl, for thy heart’s sake;
Who took thy heart, thyself at last shall take.