O
VERWHELMED BY THE burden of being in love,
Krishna languished in a cane grove
on the banks of the Yamuna; and there Radha’s friend
spoke to him:
4.1
SANDAL SCENTS SICKEN her and moonbeams waste her away,
Venom-spiked seem breezes blown from lairs where
vipers stay;
Anguished in your absence, Krishna,
Radha knows not what to do;
And fearing Love’s arrows, she imagines clinging
close to you. Refrain
With an armor of wet lotus leaves, she shields her
tender chest;
You are protected from Love’s arrows, sheltered in her breast;
Anguished in your absence, Krishna,
Radha knows not what to do;
And fearing Love’s arrows, she imagines clinging
close to you.
As though in observance of a sacred vow, she fashions a bier
of arrow shafts,
A floral bed made for love, for the practice of erotic arts
and crafts;
Anguished in your absence, Krishna,
Radha knows not what to do;
And fearing Love’s arrows, she imagines clinging
close to you.