Sri Aurobindo

Translations

CWSA.- Volume 5

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

Selected Poems of Horo Thacoor

1

(The soul beset by God wishes to surrender itself.)

Who is this with smearèd limbs

Of sandal wreathed with forest blossom?

For a beauty in him gleams

Earth bears not on her mortal bosom.

He his hair with bloom has crowned,

And many bees come murmuring, swarming.

Who is he that with sweet sound

Arrests our feet, our hearts alarming?

Daily came I to the river,

Daily passed these boughs of blessing,

But beneath their shadow never

Saw such beauty heart-caressing.

Like a cloud yet moist with rain

His hue is, robe of masquerader.

Ah, a girl’s soul out to win

Outposts here what amorous raider?

Ankle over ankle lays

And moonbeams from his feet make glamour;

When he moves, at every pace

His body’s sweets Love’s self enamour.

A strange wish usurps my mind;

My youth, my beauty, ah, life even

At his feet if I resigned

Were not that rich surrender heaven?