SRI AUROBINDO
Translations
from Sanskrit and Other Languages
II. From Bengali
XXXIII
“ ’Tis night and very timid my little love.
How long ere I see her hither swanlike move!
Dread serpents fill with fear the way;
What perils those soft beloved feet waylay.
Providence, I lay her at thy feet;
Scatheless keep she the tryst, my own, my sweet.
The sky is thick and mired the earth,
Perils wide strewn: ah me, what fears have birth.
Thick darkness are the quarters ten.
The feet stumble, nought clear the eyes may gain.
She comes! with timid backward glances
Every creature’s heart now she entrances!
Yet wears all heaven stolen in her face.”
For high-born women to be o’erborne
By love endure; all other check they scorn.