To a Night of the Full Moon
BY KALIPADA MUKHERJEE
(Translated from the original Bengali Sonnet by the Author)
O Night of the full moon, open, open the gates of heaven!
All unperceived we have come today;
from the ends of the earth, we have come to the gates of
bliss, infatuated,
with love infinite surging in our bosoms.
O thou great One, open, open the gates!
With thy moonlight, the nectar of thy heart,
we have glorified our bodies in the ecstasy of love’s delight;
and, in our hearts the lute is vibrating with joy known only to thee.
Music rolls and sways the abode of the king of the gods.
Who are they that are singing in the shade of the divine ‘parijata’ tree,
garlands of stars ever twinkling on their bosoms?
O Night of the full moon, into that cloudland of bliss
allow us to enter–a god and a goddess.