Sri Aurobindo

Translations

CWSA.- Volume 5

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

Selected Poems of Bidyapati

11

Hide now thy face, O darling white,

Hide it well with thy robe’s delight;

For the king has heard that one the moon

Has stolen and his sentinels soon

At each house stationed and each again,

Damsel beloved, will thee detain.

Laugh not thy lightning, O nectarous face!

Low and few from their sweet home press

The accents of that lyric voice.

Thy teeth make starlight, maiden choice!

And on the brow of the highborn girl

A vermeil drop and a shimmering pearl.

Hearken good counsel, beautiful maid;

Even in a dream be not afraid,

Spots has the moon, no beauty clear,

Stainèd is she, thou stainless, dear.