Question Across The Field

P. R. KAIKINI

(From a Konkani Song)

Long have I waited

My fond love,

Hundreds of miles

Have I heavily trodden

And three fine summers

Have I passed

On alien lands

Thinking of you, my love.

To-night I lie

In the open field;

With a sheet of stars about me,

A loving caress of the blue,

A wail of people

In the ditches,

A pageant of fire and smoke,

A shower of man-made lightning,

Deadening thunder

More potent than God’s.

How will you kiss me to-night,

My love,

Across the crimson horizon?

How will you lull me to bed,

My love,

To an everlasting dreamless sleep?

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