Therefore Kamsa's enemy, now chained
to all the inclinations of this worldly life
by lodging Rádhá in his heart,
has left his multitude of lovely women.
And more, with love god's arrows in his thoughts,
and much repenting, he has followed Rádhá:
the sloping thickets of the Yamuná
now find him Mádhava with honey lost.
All too plainly in my crowd of women
her looking found me, and I feel ashamed.
So thoughtlessly I acted, Rádhá left.
Not knowing how she sees this absence, what
are followers or home or wealth to me?
So thoughtlessly I acted, Rádhá left.
Those eyebrows bent I see as circling bees
will irritate the reddened lotus flower.
So thoughtlessly I acted, Rádhá left.
Must I now follow her and call in woods
who had the pleasure of her close to heart?
So thoughtlessly I acted, Rádhá left.
With courteous words your rage and jealousy
I'd calm if I could know where you have gone.
So thoughtlessly I acted, Rádhá left.
Not here, not there, you're gone, and do not
hold
me eagerly in passion as you did.
So thoughtlessly I acted, Rádhá left.
Forgive me for the things I'd not repeat
with one so beautiful, whose love I seek.
So thoughtlessly I acted, Rádhá left.
So Jayadeva praises Krishna, star
above the sea that is his native village.
So thoughtlessly I acted, Rádhá left.
* * *
Why, when coiling
lotuses are not
a snake, nor petalled
neck has venomed
hue,
nor sandal paste
be ash on this
poor body,
should the love
god choose to
ravage me?
In sport you
conquer. Do not
lift at those
who are already
faint your Mango
bow.
Those fusillades
of darting, deer-like
glances
find me torn and
thoughts in disarray.
Her brow the
love god has for
archer, crossing
glances for his
arrows, earlobe
even
as his weapon.
She, embodied
in
a goddess, has
the moving world
cast down.
That arched brow
hurts me with
its loosened arrows,
breath deserts
me in those coils
of hair,
all consciousness
is lost at those
red lips,
and life's a plaything
at those rounded
breasts.
A touch, her
comfort in it,
play of eyes,
that mouth, its
fragrance and
uncertain words,
a lip that fills
with nectar: still
I yearn
for thought disordered
in this separation.