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
