Sunday, July 12, 2020

THE PEACOCK'S EGG ~








Deep in love

cheek leaning on cheek we talked

of whatever came to our minds

just as it came

slowly oh

slowly

with our arms twined

tightly around us

and the hours passed and we

did not know it

still talking



`



Love-hut of reeds hidden in

thicket

birds flying up from it

clatter of wings

young wife at her housework

hears it

feels all her limbs melt at once



`



Her eyes in sleep

afterward



her body my love



sounds she uttered then

without meaning



yet not meaningless



my heartbeat even now

echoing them



`



Neighbor please

keep an eye on my house

my husband says the water from the well

is tasteless

so even when I'm alone

I have to go into the forest

where the Tamala trees

shade the river-bank

and maybe the thick reeds

will leave marks on my body



`



My husband

before leaving on a journey

is still in the house speaking

to the gods and already

separation is climbing like

bad monkeys to the windows



`




When he comes back

    to my arms

   

    I'll make him feel

    what nobody ever felt



    everywhere

    me

    vanishing into him



    like water

    into the clay of a new jar




_________________________________

translated by W.S. Merwin
and J. Moussaieff Masson
Love poems from Ancient India
The Peacock's Egg
North Point Press 1981