THE LOVE-LADEN
(Rendered from Tamil by
(The
following renderings of a Decad from Kural (1211-1220) speak of the dreams of a
love-laden young lady in the height of ecstasy, to whom dreams seem to be more
real than waking life, so that she longs to be left undisturbed for ever in her
really blessed state in which there can be no parting from the happy vision.
There is an undertone of deeper pathos and unravelled
suggestive significance in this ‘Nayika-bhava’,–for
the lover of God also desires the same state of blessedness to be conferred
upon him when he communes with the Lord, notwithstanding all that the world
might say or think of him.)
I2II How shall I entertain
thee, Sweet! my Dream!
Come
on love’s errand to me with a joyous gleam?
I2I2 Would my eyes were
asleep! so might I fly
To
love’s sweet arms, and show how frail’s life-tie.
I2I3
Awake I see him not; and yet his form
Unfolds itself in dream, lending life its charm.
I2I4 Dreams kindle my love,
so might I seek and find
The lover who strays away from waking mind.
I2I5 Love’s dear embrace
was sweet when it did last;
So
is it in dreams when I hold him fast.
I2I6 Were there but no
waking,–my love, meseems,
Would scarce depart from my sweet, pleasant dreams.
I2I7 The Cruel one shuns me
while I’m awake;
Why
doth he haunt my dreams–my heart to break?
I2I8 Asleep I dreamt that
on his shoulders I lay;
Awake–to
my inmost heart he has stol’n the way.
I2I9 Him they reproach if
he comes not; but then,
They
see him not through their dream’s wondrous ken.
I220 They blame him if from
me He parted be; –
They
know not that in dreams he dwells with me.