Harvard Oriental Series Volume 9 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1905 edition. Excerpt: ...word for " rain." Indian love-poetry often paints the sorrow, even unto death, of her whose beloved does not return before the rainy season. At Indra's bidding, pour their streams, Until with silver cords it seems That earth is linked with sky. And look yonder As herds of buffaloes the clouds are black; The winds deny them ease; They fly on lightning wings and little lack Of seeming troubled seas. Smitten with falling drops, the fragrant sod, Upon whose bosom greenest grasses nod, Seems pierced with pearls, each pearl an arrowy rod. V asantasena. And here is yet another cloud. The peacock's shrill-voiced cry Implores it to draw nigh; And ardent cranes on high Embrace it lovingly. The wistful swans espy The lotus-sweeter sky; The darkest colors lie On heaven clingingly. Courtier. True. For see A thousand lotuses that bloom by night, A thousand blooming when the day is bright, Nor close nor ope their eyes to heaven's sight; There is no night nor day. The face of heaven, thus shrouded in the night, Is only for a single instant bright, When momentary lightning gives us sight; Else is it dark alway. Now sleeps the world as still as in the night Within the house of rain where naught is bright, Where hosts of swollen clouds seem to our sight One covering veil of gray. V asantasena. True. And see The stars are lost like mercies given To men of evil heart; Like lonely-parted wives, the heaven Sees all her charms depart. And, molten in the cruel heat Of Indra's bolt, it seems As if the sky fell at our feet In liquid, flowing streams. And yet again: The clouds first darkly rise, then darkly fall, Send forth their floods of rain, and thunder all; Assuming postures strange and manifold, Like men but newly blest...