Love In A Village

(From the Marathi)

 

By P. R. KAIKINI

 

Simple and uncouth is my love

Without any art or artifice it is,

Direct like the summer sun

It shines forth to warm and tend

Your heart, your body;

Simple and untutored is my love

My inexplicable; uncomprehending love for you.

 

Beyond the village green

Through the thick thorny thickets

Have I often sallied forth

In search of you, my darling love,

And crossed and recrossed

Yonder stream times out of number,

No human being has seen me yet

Thus wander forth stealthily,

Only the cunning moon

Caught me once in her silvern meshes

On a purnima night

When shunning the moon-festival

I was to meet you

Beside the dark, grey hill

At the old deserted well.

 

But I have not yet met a heart

Dear to me, my love.

 

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