Sir Edwin Arnold

“ Where, like pearls hid in red-lipped shells, the row
Of pearly teeth thy rose-red lips lie under;
Ah me! I am that bird that woos the moon,
And pipes—poor fool! to make it glitter soon.
Yet hear me on—because I cannot stay
The passion of my soul, because my gladness
Will pour forth from my heart;—since that far day
When through the mist of all my sin and sadness
[85] Thou didst vouchsafe—Surpassing One!—to break,
All else I slighted for thy noblest sake.
Thou, thou hast been my blood, my breath, my being;
The pearl to plunge for in the sea of life ”

“ It takes flight, and seeks to rise
High into the purer skies,
High into the snow and frost,
On the shining summits lost!
Ah! and how the Koil's strain
Smites the traveller with pain,—
When the mango blooms in spring,
And "Koohoo," "Koohoo," they sing—
Pain of pleasures not yet won,
Pain of journeys not yet done,
Pain of toiling without gaining,
Pain, 'mid gladness, of still paining.
[21]
But may He guide us all to glory high
Who laughed when Radha glided, hidden, by,
And all among those damsels free and bold
Touched Krishna with a soft mouth, kind and cold ”

“ Strong Fish-God! Ark of Men! Jai! Hari, jai!
Hail, Keshav, hail! thou Master of the world!
The round world rested on thy spacious nape;
Upon thy neck, like a mere mole, it stood:
O thou that took'st for us the Tortoise-shape,
Hail, Keshav, hail! Ruler of wave and wood!
The world upon thy curving tusk sate sure,
Like the Moon's dark disc in her crescent pale;
O thou who didst for us assume the Boar,
Immortal Conqueror! hail, Keshav, hail!
When thou thy Giant-Foe didst seize and rend,
Fierce, fearful, long, and sharp were fang and nail ”

“ Her soul comes here beside thee, and sitteth down with thine.
Her soul comes here beside thee, and tenderly and true
It weaves a subtle mail of proof to ward off sin and pain;
A breastplate soft as lotus-leaf, with holy tears for dew,
To guard thee from the things that hurt; and then 'tis gone again
To strew a blissful place with the richest buds that grace
Kama's sweet world, a meeting-spot with rose and jasmine fair,
For the hour when, well-contented, with a love no longer troubled,
Thou shalt find the way to Radha, and finish sorrows there. ”

“ And hang the milky pearls upon her neck,
Saying they are not jewels, but a swarm
Of crowded, glossy bees, come there to suck
The rosebuds of her breast, the sweetest flowers
Of Jumna's bowers.
That shall be vain!
Nor wilt thou so believe thine own blind wooing,
Nor slake thy heart's thirst even with the cup
Which at the last she brims for thee, undoing
Her girdle of carved gold, and yielding up,
Love's uttermost: brief the poor gain and pride
By Jumna's tide
Because still vain
Is love that feeds on shadow ”

“ A demulcent—an astringent—foe to evils intestine;
Giving to the breath a fragrance—to the lips a crimson red;
A detergent, and a kindler of Love's flame that lieth dead.
Praise the Gods for the good betel!—these be thirteen virtues given,
Hard to meet in one thing blended, even in their happy heaven."
"He is brave whose tongue is silent of the trophies of his sword;
He is great whose quiet bearing marks his greatness well assured."
"When the Priest, the Leech, the Vizier of a King his flatterers be,
Very soon the King will part with health, and wealth and piety." ”

“ If love and craft can conquer, a thousand is as three.
"If love be weak to save him, Soorj dies—and ye return,
For where a Rajpoot dieth, the Rajpoot widows burn."
Thereat the Ranee Neila unbraided from her hair
The pearls as great as Kashmir grapes Soorj gave his wife to wear,
And all across her bosoms—like lotus-buds to see—
She wrapped the tinselled sari of a dancing Kunchenee;
And fastened on her ankles the hundred silver bells,
To whose light laugh of music the Nautch-girl darts and dwells. ”

“ Lay it aside with thine unfastened zone,
And love him with the love that knows not fear,
[95]
Because it fears not change; enter thou in,
Flower of all sweet and stainless womanhood!
For ever to grow bright, for ever new;
Enter beneath the flowers, O flower-fair!
Beneath these tendrils, Loveliest! that entwine
And clasp, and wreathe and cling, with kissing stems;
Enter, with tender-blowing airs of heaven,
Soft as love's breath and gentle as the tones
Of lover's whispers, when the lips come close:
Enter the house of Love, O loveliest! ”

“ For jewels on her forehead,
And for emblem and for garland
Loves the blue-black lotus-bloom;
The night that scents her breath so sweet
With cool and musky odours,
That joys to spread her veil of shade
Over the limbs of love;
[94]
And when, with loving weary,
Yet dreaming love, they slumber,
Sets the far stars for silver lamps
To light them from above.
So came she where he stood, awaiting her
At the bower's entry, like a god to see,
With marriage-gladness and the grace of heaven. ”

“ And the lion's but a jackal who hath left his forest-shade."
"The people are the lotus-leaves, their monarch is the sun—
When he doth sink beneath the waves they vanish every one.
When he doth rise they rise again with bud and blossom rife,
To bask awhile in his warm smile, who is their lord and life."
"All the cows bring forth are cattle—only now and then is born
An authentic lord of pastures, with his shoulder-scratching horn."
[263] "When the soldier in the battle lays his life down for his king,
Unto Swarga's perfect glory such a deed his soul shall bring." ”

“ Like an open eye is Wisdom—he that hath her not is blind."
"Childless art thou? dead thy children? leaving thee to want and doole?
Less thy misery than his is, who lives father to a fool."
"One wise son makes glad his father, forty fools avail him not:
One moon silvers all that darkness which the silly stars did dot." ”

“ Tis there thy Krishna dances till the merry drum is done,
All in the sunny Spring-time, when who can live alone?
Where the breaking forth of blossom on the yellow Keshra-sprays
Dazzles like Kama's sceptre, whom all the world obeys;
And Pâtal-buds fill drowsy bees from pink delicious bowls,
As Kama's nectared goblet steeps in languor human souls;
There he dances with the dancers, and of Radha thinketh none,
All in the warm new Spring-tide, when none will live alone. ”

“ Many a friend can prove unfriendly, many a kinsman less than kind:
He who shares his comrade's portion, be he beggar, be he lord,
Comes as truly, comes as duly, to the battle as the board—
Stands before the king to succour, follows to the pile to sigh—
He is friend, and he is kinsman; less would make the name a lie."
"Stars gleam, lamps flicker, friends foretell of fate;
The fated sees, knows, hears them—all too late."
"Absent, flatterers' tongues are daggers—present, softer than the silk;
Shun them! 'tis a draught of poison hidden under harmless milk ”

“ Where my dear brothers are, and Draupadí.
I cannot stay elsewhere! I see them not!'
"Then answer made Purandará, the God:
'O thou compassionate and noblest One,
Rest in the pleasures which thy deeds have gained.
[191] How, being as are the Gods, canst thou live bound
By mortal chains? Thou art become of Us,
Who live above hatred and love, in bliss
Pinnacled, safe, supreme. Sun of thy race.
Thy brothers cannot reach where thou hast climbed:
Most glorious lord of men, let not thy peace
Be touched by stir of earth! Look! this is Heaven. ”

“ He that will enter heaven must enter pure.
Why didst thou quit thy brethren on the way,
Quit Krishna, quit the dear-loved Draupadí,
Attaining, firm and glorious, to this Mount
Through perfect deeds, to linger for a brute?
Hath Yudhishthira vanquished self, to melt
With one poor passion at the door of bliss?
Stay'st thou for this, who didst not stay for them,—
Draupadí, Bhíma?'
"But the king yet spake:
''Tis known that none can hurt or help the dead. ”

“ Wisdom sees right what want of knowledge fears."
"Seek not the wild, sad heart! thy passions haunt it;
Play hermit in thy house with heart undaunted;
A governed heart, thinking no thought but good,
Makes crowded houses holy solitude."
"Away with those that preach to us the washing off of sin—
Thine own self is the stream for thee to make ablutions in:
In self-restraint it rises pure—flows clear in tide of truth,
By widening banks of wisdom, in waves of peace and truth."
[270]
"Bathe there, thou son of Pandu! ”

“ Little recks the awless lion where his hunting jungles lie—
When he enters them be certain that a royal prey shall die."
"Very feeble folk are poor folk; money lost takes wit away:
All their doings fail like runnels, wasting through the summer day."
[238]
"Wealth is friends, home, father, brother—title to respect and fame;
Yea, and wealth is held for wisdom—that it should be so is shame."
"Home is empty to the childless; hearts to those who friends deplore:
Earth unto the idle-minded; and the three worlds to the poor." ”

“ SARGA THE FIRST. SAMODADAMODARO. THE SPORTS OF KRISHNA.
Beautiful Radha, jasmine-bosomed Radha,
All in the Spring-time waited by the wood
For Krishna fair, Krishna the all-forgetful,—
Krishna with earthly love's false fire consuming—
And some one of her maidens sang this song:—
(What follows is to the Music Vasanta and the Mode Yati.)
I know where Krishna tarries in these early days of Spring,
When every wind from warm Malay brings fragrance on its wing;
[10] Brings fragrance stolen far away from thickets of the clove,
In jungles where the bees hum and the Koil flutes her love ”

“ For here is Paradise, thou chief of men!
And in its holy air hatreds are dead.'
[195]
"Thus by such lips addressed the Pandu king
Answered uncomforted: 'Duryodhana,
If he attains, attains; yet not the less
Evil he lived and ill he died,—a heart
Impious and harmful, bringing woes to all,
To friends and foes. His was the crime which cost
Our land its warriors, horses, elephants;
His the black sin that set us in the field,
Burning for rightful vengeance. Ye are gods,
And just; and ye have granted heaven to him. ”

“ Fortune! rate her like a master, and she serves thee like a slave."
"Two-fold is the life we live in—Fate and Will together run:
Two wheels bear life's chariot onward—Will it move on only one?"
"Look! the clay dries into iron, but the potter moulds the clay:
Destiny to-day is master—Man was master yesterday."
[228]
"Worthy ends come not by wishing. Wouldst thou? Up, and win it, then!
While the hungry lion slumbers, not a deer comes to his den."
"Silly glass, in splendid settings, something of the gold may gain;
And in company of wise ones, fools to wisdom may attain." ”

“ The horse is found, is adorned with the golden plate, and turned loose, wandering into distant regions; where the army of Arjuna—for it was he who led Yudhishthira's forces—goes through twelve amazing adventures. They come, for instance, to a land of Amazons, all of wonderful beauty, wearing armour of pearls and gold, and equally fatal either to love or to fight with. These dazzling enemies, however, finally submit, as also the Rajah of the rich city of Babhruváhan, which possessed high walls of solid silver, and was lighted with precious jewels for lamps. ”

“ Courage, led by careful Prudence, unto highest ends is brought."
"Grief kills gladness, winter summer, midnight-gloom the light of day,
Kindnesses ingratitude, and pleasant friends drive pain away;
Each ends each, but none of other surer conquerors can be
Than Impolicy of Fortune—of Misfortune Policy."
[261]
"Wisdom answers all who ask her, but a fool she cannot aid;
Blind men in the faithful mirror see not their reflection made."
"Where the Gods are, or thy Gúrú—in the face of Pain and Age,
Cattle, Brahmans, Kings, and Children—reverently curb thy rage." ”

“ Furious elephants are fastened with a rope of grass-blades twined."
"Let the household hold together, though the house be ne'er so small;
Strip the rice-husk from the rice-grain, and it groweth not at all."
[232]
"Sickness, anguish, bonds, and woe
Spring from wrongs wrought long ago."
"Keep wealth for want, but spend it for thy wife,
And wife, and wealth, and all, to guard thy life."
"Death, that must come, comes nobly when we give
Our wealth, and life, and all, to make men live." ”

“ Come thou and see! Grieve no more, King of Men!
Whose love helped them and thee, and hath its meed.
Rajas and maharajahs, warriors, aids,—
All thine are thine for ever. Krishna waits
To greet thee coming, 'companied by gods,
Seated in heaven, from toils and conflicts saved.
Son! there is golden fruit of noble deeds,
Of prayer, alms, sacrifice. The most just Gods
Keep thee thy place above the highest saints,
Where thou shalt sit, divine, compassed about
With royal souls in bliss, as Hari sits ”

“ But brides may kiss, nor do amiss,
And men may draw, at scathe and scorning."
"Serving narrow-minded masters dwarfs high natures to their size:
Seen before a convex mirror, elephants do show as mice."
"Elephants destroy by touching, snakes with point of tooth beguile;
Kings by favour kill, and traitors murder with a fatal smile."
[256] "Of the wife the lord is jewel, though no gems upon her beam;
Lacking him, she lacks adornment, howsoe'er her jewels gleam!"
"Hairs three-lakhs, and half-a-lakh hairs, on a man so many grow—
And so many years to Swarga shall the true wife surely go!" ”