Vallana (c. 900 CE-1100 CE)
The Oblique Invitation

Traveller, hurry your steps, be on your way:
the woods are full of wild animals,
snakes, elephants, tigers and boars,
the sun’s going down and you’re so young to be going alone.
I can’t let you stay,
for I’m a young girl and no one’s home.

Translated from the Sanskrit by Octavio Paz