Sri Aurobindo

Translations

CWSA.- Volume 5

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

Selected Poems of Bidyapati

The manèd steeds in the mountain glens for fear

Of these thy locks, O maiden, hide.

The moon at thy face from the high heaven doth peer

And thy voice alarms the cuckoo’s pride.

Thy gait has driven the swan to the forest-mere

And the wild-deer flee thy large eyes’ light.

Ah beautiful girl, why mute then to my love?

Lo, fear of thee all these to flight doth move;

Whom dost thou fear then, maiden bright?

The lotus-buds in the water closed reside

Thy paps being lovelier and the flame

Absorbs the pitcher and in air abide

The pomegranate and quince at thy breasts’ sweet name.

Yea, Sheve doth swallow poison and in ooze

The golden lotus-stalk, lo, shuns

Thine arm and the new leaves shake these hands to see.

But ah! my weary lips refuse,

O’erstrained with honey-sweet comparisons,

All images to tell love taught to me.