LIFE, THE LILY
MAIDEN
Prof. V. K. Gokak
(Translated from
the author’s Kannada poem)
One night when I sat deep in meditation,
Life, the Lily Maiden, came to me -
Life, the Lily Maiden.
With streaks of roses on her cheeks,
Led by the light-aspiring guide
Rejected by the maidens seven of heaven.
For he had dared hem all to test his love
When they had dared them all to test his love
When they had wished him one from them to choose.
And Life, the Lily Maiden, stood before me
While the guide waited silent at the door
And I, with bated breath,
Asked her why thus she stood revealed in glory
When aeons of prayer kept her still concealed:
“1 am the beloved you loved,
oh! lover!
I am the destination and the
guide!
You loved my rainbow colours
and my flowers,
And worshipped all my gold of
morn and eve,
You treasure up the saffron
robes I wore
And hugged the rose-red prints
of crimson feet.
Then did I whisper to myself:
Will not he love me who has loved what’s mine?
Will not he set the crown upon
my head,
The crown inset with cressets
of bright stars,
The crown of his soul-flame, of sweet consent?
And unto you I fled like the
sun-beam
That, crystal-clear, enfolds
the rainbow-colours.”
And unto her I spoke all quivering,
And said: “Oh! Lily Maiden!
now I know
You as the moon that moulded
all my dreams.
I will dare all you bid me,
set the crown
Of my consent upon your head
and be
Your second self to you; but
tell me, maid,
Is that your only quest and dear desire?”
And unto this the maiden answered, saying:
“I am the beloved you loved, oh! Lover!
I am the destination and the
guide!
But to this day my birth had
been a riddle.
In whose laps I lay, and in
whose womb
I felt the stir! being, is all
surmise.
But you have traced all matter
to the root
And bathed amid the springs of
being. Mankind
Lays bare its prodigies before
your eyes
And yet its millions vanquish
not your thirst!
You, who can read into the
hearts of men
And find what star will glow
above their heads,
Can well reveal to me whose
daughter I am
And kiss my forehead as you
crown my head.”
At which I wondered to myself
Whether I could imagine or divine
Her mystery. The light-aspiring guide
Well knew my mind and spoke in solemn tones:
“On! Youth! whose hand has
held the jewelled crown
Of this enchanted maiden,
listen to me,
The goldsmith who has known
his metal, designs
Out of the same, a hundred
patterns of gold.
The wind makes branches meet
in many curves.
And one who knows the springs
of being can fashion
Things wondrous-wise. Thus to
have fashioned them
Is to have known the secret of
all things.”
At that I rose and seated the Lily Maiden,
And crowned her with the crown of all my stars,
And said, kissing her forehead: “Live
with me
And be the inspiration of my
song,
Queen of my home and friend of
my desires,
My enemy on the field, god of
my fame,
Sadness and mirth and sorrow
and joy by turn,
The weariness of life, its
spring and summer-
I crown you with the crown of
all my stars!
And to have lived thus measures
half the truth.”
And so the Lily Maiden came to me;
And so I crowned her queen of all my being;
And so the light-aspiring guide retraced
His steps towards the maidens seven of heaven.