Translations Of Shakuntala And Other Works Part 42

FORMER CLOUD

I

_A Yaksha, or divine attendant on Kubera, G.o.d of wealth, is exiled for a year from his home in the Himalayas. As he dwells on a peak in the Vindhya range, half India separates him from his young bride_.

On Rama's shady peak where hermits roam, Mid streams by Sita's bathing sanctified, An erring Yaksha made his hapless home, Doomed by his master humbly to abide, And spend a long, long year of absence from his bride.

II

_After eight months of growing emaciation, the first cloud warns him of the approach of the rainy season, when neglected brides are wont to pine and die_.

Some months were gone; the lonely lover's pain Had loosed his golden bracelet day by day Ere he beheld the harbinger of rain, A cloud that charged the peak in mimic fray, As an elephant attacks a bank of earth in play.

III

Before this cause of lovers' hopes and fears Long time Kubera's bondman sadly bowed In meditation, choking down his tears-- Even happy hearts thrill strangely to the cloud; To him, poor wretch, the loved embrace was disallowed.

IV

_Unable to send tidings otherwise of his health and unchanging love, he resolves to make the cloud his messenger_.

Longing to save his darling's life, unblest With joyous tidings, through the rainy days, He plucked fresh blossoms for his cloudy guest, Such homage as a welcoming comrade pays, And bravely spoke brave words of greeting and of praise.

V

Nor did it pa.s.s the lovelorn Yaksha's mind How all unfitly might his message mate With a cloud, mere fire and water, smoke and wind-- Ne'er yet was lover could discriminate 'Twixt life and lifeless things, in his love-blinded state.

VI

_He prefers his request_,

I know, he said, thy far-famed princely line, Thy state, in heaven's imperial council chief, Thy changing forms; to thee, such fate is mine, I come a suppliant in my widowed grief-- Better thy lordly "no" than meaner souls' relief.

VII

O cloud, the parching spirit stirs thy pity; My bride is far, through royal wrath and might; Bring her my message to the Yaksha city, Rich-gardened Alaka, where radiance bright From Shiva's crescent bathes the palaces in light.

VIII

_hinting at the same time that the' cloud will find his kindly labour rewarded by pleasures on the road_,

When thou art risen to airy paths of heaven, Through lifted curls the wanderer's love shall peep And bless the sight of thee for comfort given; Who leaves his bride through cloudy days to weep Except he be like me, whom chains of bondage keep?

IX

_and by happy omens_.

While favouring breezes waft thee gently forth, And while upon thy left the plover sings His proud, sweet song, the cranes who know thy worth Will meet thee in the sky on joyful wings And for delights antic.i.p.ated join their rings.

X

_He a.s.sures the cloud that his bride is neither dead nor faithless_;

Yet hasten, O my brother, till thou see-- Counting the days that bring the lonely smart-- The faithful wife who only lives for me: A drooping flower is woman's loving heart, Upheld by the stem of hope when two true lovers part.

XI

_further, that there will be no lack of travelling companions_.

And when they hear thy welcome thunders break, When mushrooms sprout to greet thy fertile weeks, The swans who long for the Himalayan lake Will be thy comrades to Kailasa's peaks, With juicy bits of lotus-fibre in their beaks.

XII

One last embrace upon this mount bestow Whose flanks were pressed by Rama's holy feet, Who yearly strives his love for thee to show, Warmly his well-beloved friend to greet With the tear of welcome shed when two long-parted meet.

XIII

_He then describes the long journey_,

Learn first, O cloud, the road that thou must go, Then hear my message ere thou speed away; Before thee mountains rise and rivers flow: When thou art weary, on the mountains stay, And when exhausted, drink the rivers' driven spray.

XIV

_beginning with the departure from Rama's peak, where dwells a company of Siddhas, divine beings of extraordinary sanct.i.ty_.

Elude the heavenly elephants' clumsy spite; Fly from this peak in richest jungle drest; And Siddha maids who view thy northward flight Will upward gaze in simple terror, lest The wind be carrying quite away the mountain crest.

XV

Bright as a heap of flashing gems, there shines Before thee on the ant-hill, Indra's bow; Matched with that dazzling rainbow's glittering lines, Thy sombre form shall find its beauties grow, Like the dark herdsman Vishnu, with peac.o.c.k-plumes aglow.

XVI

_The Mala plateau_.

The farmers' wives on Mala's lofty lea, Though innocent of all coquettish art, Will give thee loving glances; for on thee Depends the fragrant furrow's fruitful part; Thence, barely westering, with lightened burden start.

XVII

_The Mango Peak_.

The Mango Peak whose forest fires were laid By streams of thine, will soothe thy weariness; In memory of a former service paid, Even meaner souls spurn not in time of stress A suppliant friend; a soul so lofty, much the less.

XVIII

With ripened mango-fruits his margins teem; And thou, like wetted braids, art blackness quite; When resting on the mountain, thou wilt seem Like the dark nipple on Earth's bosom white, For mating G.o.ds and G.o.ddesses a thrilling sight.