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Women's Eyes 
 
 BEING VERSES TRANSLATED FROM 
 THE SANSKRIT 
 
 by 
 Arthur William Ryder 
 
 Aseietant Professor of Sanskrit 
 in the University of California 
 
 Should fancy cease. 
 The world would be a forest dead and dry. 
 — Bhavabhuti. 
 
 SAN FRANCISCO 
 
 A. M. ROBERTSON 
 1916 
 
COPYRIGHT, 1910, BY ARTHUK W. EYDEB 
 COPYRIGHT, 1916, BY A. M. ROBERTSON ■ 
 
 -^W [ 
 
 SECOND FEINTING 
 
 PRINTED BY TAYLOR & TAYLOR, SAN FRANCISCO 
 
3?-// 
 
 33 7 
 
 TO THE MEMORY OF 
 
 IRVING STRINGHAM 
 
 THE MATHEMATICIAN. 
 
 WE OF THE UNIVERSITY OWE MORE TO HIM 
 
 THAN EITHER WE COULD REPAY OR 
 
 WHOLLY COMPREHEND. TO HIS LIVING 
 
 MEMORY THIS VOLUME IS DEDICATED ; A SLIGHT 
 
 GIFT, MADE RICH ONLY BY THE LOVING 
 
 AND GRATEFUL THOUGHT OF HIM, 
 
 WHICH WENT TO ITS MAKING. 
 
 The year sees many a birth and death 
 Of little folks like you and me: 
 
 His like has never yet drawn breath; 
 No future age his like will see. 
 
 FaoM THE Sanskrit. 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 IN short verses the Hindus excel. Their mastery of 
 form, their play of fancy, their depth and tender- 
 ness of feeling, are all exquisite. 
 
 Of the many who wrote such verses, the greatest is 
 Bhartrihari. He lived some fifteen hundred years ago 
 as king of Ujjain, and lived most royally, tasting the 
 sweets of life without thought of the morrow. 
 
 At last he was roused from his carefree existence hy 
 an event which surprised and shocked him. He gave 
 a magic fruit to a girl whom he loved. She loved an- 
 other, and passed the gift on to him. He presented it 
 to his lady-love, who in her turn loved the king. When 
 Bhartrihari received the magic fruit from her and 
 learned of its travels, he was disgusted with the fleet- 
 ing joys of the world, gave up his kingdom, and spent 
 the rest of his life in a cave, writing poetry. The cir- 
 cumstance which led to his retirement is commemorated 
 in the following verse, reprinted hy permission of the 
 Century Magazine: 
 
 The maid my true heart loves would not my true love be; 
 
 She seeks another man; another maid loves he; 
 
 And me another maid her own true love would see: 
 
 Oh, fie on her and him and Love and HER and me I 
 
BJiartrihari wrote three hundred verses: a hundred 
 on the conduct of life, a hundred on love, a hundred 
 on renunciation. 
 
 In the present collection, no less than eighty-five of 
 the verses are takeyi from this master of Indian verse- 
 writing. The remaining fifteen are from various 
 soiirces. The arrangement of the verses is my own, as 
 are also the titles prefixed to them. 
 
 I have striven faithfully for a literal rendering. 
 Though a rendering into verse cannot he quite as close 
 as a prose version, nothing has been wilfidly added or 
 subtracted. One matter deserves notice here; I have 
 occasionally translated Indian god-names, Shiva or 
 Brahma, hy the word God. This is not wholly accurate, 
 yet not, I think, unfaitliful in spirit. 
 
 The present volume does not encroach unduly upon 
 the excellent work of P. E. More: A Century of 
 Indian Epigrams. Only a fetv of the verses chosen hy 
 Mm are translated here, and even these in a manner 
 quite different. 
 
 I am under obligations to the University of Cali- 
 fornia Chronicle for permission to reprint ceftai7i 
 verses which first appeared in its pages. 
 
 Arthur W. Ryder 
 Berlceley, California, 
 February 19, 1910. 
 
 [Vi] 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Women's Eyes 1 
 
 If Only We Might Dress in Air 2 
 
 Love Is Young 3 
 
 Love Grows by What It Feeds On 4 
 
 Gentle Eyes 5 
 
 The Stubborn Fool— I 6 
 
 The Stubborn Fool— II 7 
 
 Seven Arrows 8 
 
 Substitutes 9 
 
 Sweet and Bitter 10 
 
 When I Knew a Little Bit 11 
 
 Whom Does She Love? . 12 
 
 Arrows of Love 13 
 
 The Danger of Delay , 14 
 
 Better to Dwell in Mountains Wild 15 
 
 The April Wind 16 
 
 My Folly 's Done 17 
 
 Does She Love Me? . 18 
 
 Kemedies 19 
 
 The Beautiful and the Good 20 
 
 The Power of Money 21 
 
 Desire Is Young 22 
 
 Thou Art a Flower 23 
 
 The Divine Decree 24 
 
 Two Kings 25 
 
 [Vii] 
 
PAGE 
 
 Absence and Union 26 
 
 The Serpent-Woman 27 
 
 Can She Be Dear? 28 
 
 The Decline of True Learning 29 
 
 The Last Day 30 
 
 Logic ,...,.... 31 
 
 The Anger of the King 32 
 
 The Eains 33 
 
 The Lovers' Ally 34 
 
 Why? . 35 
 
 All the World 's a Stage 36 
 
 The Way of the World 37 
 
 She Only Looked 38 
 
 Who Understands a Man? 39 
 
 Untrustworthy Things 40 
 
 Two Views of Life .... 41 
 
 Procrastination 42 
 
 Should Fancy Cease 43 
 
 What Then?— I 44 
 
 What Then?— II . 45 
 
 The Queen of Love 46 
 
 Joyous Treasures 47 
 
 Vexations — I 48 
 
 Vexations — II 49 
 
 Love, the Fisher 50 
 
 Ephemeral Potions 51 
 
 All These Things Shall Be Added ........ 52 
 
 The Blind Forest . 53 
 
 The Littleness of the World 54 
 
 Friendship's End 55 
 
 [ viii ] 
 
PAGE 
 
 A Wasted Life— I 56 
 
 A Wasted Life— II 57 
 
 A Wasted Life— III 58 
 
 Flaming Banners 59 
 
 The Thief of Hearts 60 
 
 Two Kinds of Friendship 61 
 
 Choosing a Vocation 62 
 
 The Good Are Rare 63 
 
 There Was a Noble City 64 
 
 Where Education Fails .65 
 
 On Giving a Daughter in Marriage 66 
 
 Struggling Fancies 67 
 
 Oh, Might I End the Quest! 68 
 
 What Delights and Hurts 69 
 
 The Sweetest Things 70 
 
 The Unlucky Man 71 
 
 A Reason for Renunciation 72 
 
 Renunciation 73 
 
 The Better Part 74 
 
 The Five Robbers 75 
 
 When Woman Wills 76 
 
 A Little Knowledge 77 
 
 The Weaker Sex 78 
 
 Young Womanhood 79 
 
 The Bravest of the Brave 80 
 
 Dignity 81 
 
 In the Days of Thy Youth 82 
 
 They Want the Earth 83 
 
 The Beasts That Don 't Eat Grass 84 
 
 Why Men Beg 85 
 
 [ix] 
 
PAGE 
 
 The Wise Misogynist 86 
 
 Nectar and Poison 87 
 
 The Two Things That Matter . 88 
 
 The One Thing Needful 89 
 
 Unintelligible Virtue 90 
 
 The Lines of Fate 91 
 
 Poverty 92 
 
 How Hard Fate Grips! 93 
 
 When My Love Draws Nigh .94 
 
 The Hermit . 95 
 
 Why Go to Court? . 96 
 
 Impossible! 97 
 
 Hindrances . 98 
 
 Divine Vision 99 
 
 Why My Poems Died 100 
 
 [X] 
 
WOMEN'S EYES 
 
women's eyes 
 
 The world is full of women's eyes, 
 Defiant, filled with shy surprise, 
 Demure, a little overfree, 
 Or simply sparkling roguishly ; 
 It seems a gorgeous lily-bed, 
 "Whichever way I turn my head. 
 
 [1 
 
IF ONLY WE MIGHT DRESS IN AIR 
 
 If only we might dress in air, 
 And eat what begging brings, 
 
 And sleep outdoors, we should not care 
 For all the money-kings. 
 
 [2] 
 
LOVE IS YOUNG 
 
 The wrinkles on my face are all untold ; 
 
 My hair is gray and thin; 
 My limbs are sadly feeble grown, and old 
 
 But love is young, and sin. 
 
 [3] 
 
LOVE GROWS BY WHAT IT FEEDS ON 
 
 When she is far, I only want to see her ; 
 
 When she is seen, I only want to kiss her ; 
 When she is kissed, I never want to flee her ; 
 
 I know that I could never bear to miss her. 
 
 [4] 
 
GENTLE EYES 
 
 Candle, and fire, and star, 
 
 Sun, moon, to give me light ; 
 
 But her dear, gentle eyes are far- 
 This world is night. 
 
 [5 
 
THE STUBBORN FOOL t 
 
 A diamond you may draw 
 
 From an alligator's jaw; 
 You may cross the raging ocean like a pool; 
 
 A cobra you may wear 
 
 Like a blossom in your hair ; 
 But you never can convince a stubborn fool. 
 
 [6 
 
THE STUBBORN FOOL II 
 
 With sufficient toil and travail 
 
 You may gather oil from gravel ; 
 The mirage perhaps your thirsty lips may cool; 
 
 If you seek it night and morn, 
 
 You may find a rabbit's horn ; 
 But you never can convince a stubborn fool. 
 
 [7] 
 
SEVEN ARROWS 
 
 Seven arrows pierce my heart: 
 
 The moonbeams that by day depart ; 
 
 The maid whose youthful beauty flies ; 
 
 The pool wherein the lotus dies ; 
 
 The handsome man whose lips are dumb ; 
 
 The rich man, miserly and glum ; 
 
 The good man sunk in suffering ; 
 
 The rogue in favor with the king. 
 
 [8] 
 
SUBSTITUTES 
 
 What need of armor to the patient soul ? 
 What need of foes, if temper spurns control? 
 If rogues are near, what need of snakes to harm 
 
 you ? 
 If relatives, what need of fire to warm you ? 
 If friends, what need of magic draughts for 
 
 health ? 
 If blameless scholarship, what need of wealth ? 
 If modesty, what need of gems and flowers ? 
 If poetry, what need of kingly powers? 
 
 [9 
 
SWEET AND BITTER 
 
 Sweet are the moonbeams, sweet the grass-grown 
 
 wood, 
 Sweet is the peaceful converse of the good, 
 The poet 's song is sweet, the maiden 's face 
 When angry tear-drops lend a sudden grace : 
 All would be sweet if human fate were fitter ; 
 The thought of death turns all the sweet to 
 
 bitter. 
 
 [10] 
 
WHEN I KNEW A LITTLE BIT 
 
 When I knew a little bit, 
 Then my silly, blinded wit, 
 Mad as elephants in rut, 
 Thought it was onmisieent ; but 
 When I learned a little more 
 From the scholar 's hoarded store, 
 Madness' fever soon grew cool, 
 And I knew I was a fool. 
 
 11] 
 
WHOM DOES SHE LOVE' 
 
 With one she gossips full of art ; 
 
 Her glances with a second flirt ; 
 She holds another in her heart : 
 
 Whom does she love enough to hurt ? 
 
 [12] 
 
ARROWS OF LOVE 
 
 Where are you going, winsome maid, 
 Through deepest, darkest night? (he said.) 
 I go to him whom love has made 
 Dearer to me than life (she said). 
 Ah, girl, and are you not afraid. 
 For you are all alone? (he said.) 
 The god of love shall be mine aid. 
 Arrows of love fly true (she said). 
 
 [13 
 
THE DANGER OF DELAY 
 
 In giving, and receiving too, 
 In every deed you have to do, 
 Act quickly ; if you wait a bit, 
 Then time will suck the juice of it. 
 
 [14] 
 
BETTER TO DWELL IN MOUNTAINS WILD 
 
 Better to dwell in mountains wild 
 
 With beasts of prey 
 Than in the palaces of gods 
 
 With fools to stay. 
 
 [15] 
 
THE APRIL WIND 
 
 The wind of April is a lover bold : 
 He makes the women shiver hot and cold ; 
 He shuts their eyes, he rumples up their hair, 
 And catches rudely at the gowns they wear ; 
 Time after time he presses pretty lips 
 From which a cry indignant-joyful slips. 
 
 [16] 
 
MY FOLLY 'S DONE 
 
 Why should that girl still use her keen, 
 Coquettish eyes that steal the sheen 
 From lotus-flowers. What can she mean ' 
 
 My folly 's done. The fever-sting 
 Of love 's soft arrow does not cling ; 
 And yet she doesn't stop, poor thing! 
 
 [17] 
 
DOES SHE LOVE ME ? 
 
 Although she does not speak to me, 
 She listens while I speak ; 
 
 Her eyes turn not, my face to see, 
 But nothing else they seek. 
 
 [18] 
 
REMEDIES 
 
 A fire with water we defeat, 
 With parasols the midday heat, 
 Mad elephants with goads that prick, 
 Oxen and asses with a stick, 
 Sickness with draughts that banish harm, 
 Poison with many a spell and charm< 
 Science has cures for every ill 
 Except the fool ; he prospers still. 
 
 [19] 
 
THE BEAUTIFUL AND THE GOOD 
 
 You are a teacher of the youth 
 
 Who master philosophic truth ; 
 
 I seek in the poetic art 
 
 What charms and ravishes the heart. 
 
 Yet we are honest and we see 
 
 The only good is charity ; 
 
 And nothing charms us, fools or wise, 
 
 Except a maid with lotus-eyes. 
 
 [20] 
 
THE POWER OP MONEY 
 
 His powers are still the same, his actions too. 
 His mind is quite as keen, his speech as true ; 
 Yet he has undergone a wondrous change — 
 He lost his money. Do you think it strange ? 
 
 [21] 
 
DESIRE IS YOUNG 
 
 Not time, but we, have passed away ; 
 
 Not virtue, we ourselves grow cold ; 
 Not joys, but we, no longer stay : 
 
 Desire is young, but we are old. 
 
 [22 
 
THOU ART A FLOWER 
 
 Thou art a flower whose fragrance none has 
 tasted, 
 
 A gem uncut by workman's tool, 
 A branch no desecrating hands have wasted, 
 
 A virgin forest, sweetly cool. 
 
 No man on earth deserves to taste thy beauty, 
 Thy blameless loveliness and worth, 
 
 Unless he has fulfilled man 's perfect duty — 
 And is there such a one on earth ? 
 
 23] 
 
THE DIVINE DECREE 
 
 Thy wise creator wrote upon thy brow, 
 
 When thou wast born, what wealth should 
 once be thine ; 
 
 The sum was great perhaps, or small ; yet now 
 Thy fate is fixed, and sure the law divine. 
 
 For if thou dwell within the desert's bound, 
 Thou shalt have nothing less than his decree ; 
 
 Nor shall a single penny more be found, 
 
 Although the golden mount thy dwelling be. 
 
 Ah, then be brave and play the manly part, 
 Nor be so fond to humble thy proud heart 
 And fawn before the rich with cringing art. 
 
 For see ! A jar that in the ocean fell 
 
 Holds no more water in its little shell 
 
 Than when you lowered it in the meanest well. 
 
 [24] 
 
TWO KINGS 
 
 Flee from the palace where they say : 
 The king is sleeping ; go away — 
 He has no time for you today — 
 Or — he will see you if you stay — 
 He will be angry anyway. 
 
 Flee to another, greater king, 
 My soul, who rules each mortal thing. 
 Whose palace knows no bolt, no ring, 
 No porter 's harsh, sarcastic fling, 
 No pain, no human suffering. 
 
 [25] 
 
ABSENCE AND UNION 
 
 Absence is union dear, 
 When hearts are one ; 
 
 Union is absence drear, 
 When love is done. 
 
 [26] 
 
THE SERPENT- WOMAN 
 
 Avoid the poison-glance, my friends ; 
 
 The serpent-woman flee ; 
 Her crooked path has crooked ends ; 
 
 Her hood is coquetry. 
 
 If you are stung by conmion snakes, 
 Perhaps you will not die ; 
 
 If poison from a woman takes, 
 The doctors say goodby. 
 
 [ 27 
 
CAN SHE BE DEAR? 
 
 The thought of her is saddening, 
 The sight of her is fear, 
 
 The touch of her is maddening — 
 Can she be really dear ? 
 
 [28] 
 
THE DECLINE OF TRUE LEARNING 
 
 Once, learning slew the living woe 
 Of wise men. That was long ago. 
 She then disdained such service rare, 
 Became a practical affair. 
 But nowadays she sees that kings 
 Despise all intellectual things. 
 And sinking lower day by day, 
 She seems to vanish quite away. 
 
 [29] 
 
THE LAST DAY 
 
 When the celestial mount shall totter, burning 
 
 In all-devouring flame, 
 When seas go dry, where crocodiles are turning 
 
 And sharks no man may tame. 
 When the compact earth itself shall tumble sheer, 
 
 Great mountains madly dance, 
 What of our bodies, quivering like the ear 
 
 Of baby elephants ? 
 
 [30] 
 
LOGIC 
 
 How long may subtle logic play its part 
 In science and theology and art ? 
 
 So long as no young fawn-eyed maiden 's 
 glance 
 Shall find its way to the logician 's heart. 
 
 [31] 
 
THE ANGER OF THE KING 
 
 None from the anger of the king 
 
 May be released ; 
 The fire consumes the offering 
 
 And burns the priest. 
 
 [32] 
 
THE RAINS 
 
 And when the rainy days are come, 
 Your lady-love must stay at home ; 
 She clings to you, a little bold 
 Because she shivers with the cold ; 
 The breeze is fresh with heaven's spray 
 And drives her lassitude away : 
 "When happy lovers are together. 
 The rainy time is fairest weather. 
 
 [33] 
 
THE LOVERS ALLY 
 
 Ye maids, exhaust your haughty scorn 
 
 On lovers bending low ; 
 For soon the breeze in southland born, 
 
 With sandal sweet, will blow. 
 
 [34] 
 
WHY? 
 
 The deer, the fish, the good man hunger 
 For grass, for water, for content; 
 
 Yet hunter, fisher, scandahnonger 
 Pursue each harmless innocent. 
 
 [35] 
 
ALL THE WORLD S A STAGE 
 
 Child for an hour, and lovesick youth an hour, 
 Beggar an hour, then fanned by riches' breathy 
 
 The wrinkled actor, Man, bereft of power, 
 Creeps tottering behind the curtain, Death. 
 
 [36] 
 
THE WAY OP THE WORLD 
 
 In daily journeys of the sun 
 Our little life is quickly done ; 
 In anxious duties of the day 
 The hours unnoticed slip away ; 
 Though birth and age are ever near, 
 And grief, and death, we do not fear ; 
 The world forgets its sore distress. 
 Goes mad with wine of heedlessness. 
 
 [37] 
 
SHE ONLY LOOKED 
 
 She did not redden nor deny 
 
 My entrance to her room ; 
 She did not speak an angry word ; 
 
 She did not fret and fume ; 
 She did not frown upon poor me, 
 
 Her lover now as then ; 
 She only looked at me the way 
 
 She looks at other men. 
 
 [38] 
 
WHO UNDERSTANDS A MAN? 
 
 Once he would follow at my feet, 
 
 Obey my slightest word ; 
 And black was black, if black to me, 
 
 Or white, if I preferred ; 
 And he began to walk or sit 
 
 The moment I began ; 
 But he is different now. Oh, dear ! 
 
 Who understands a man? 
 
 [39] 
 
UNTRUSTWOKTHY THINGS 
 
 The things that can claw, and the things that 
 can gore, 
 Are very untrustworthy things ; 
 And a man with a sword in his hand, further- 
 more, 
 And rivers and women and kings. 
 
 40] 
 
TWO VIEWS OF LITE 
 
 When ignorance my life entwined, 
 
 Love's ointment made me strangely blind — 
 
 I thought the world was made of womankind. 
 
 But clearer judgment than of yore 
 
 The veil before my vision tore — 
 
 I know that God is all the world and more. 
 
 [41] 
 
PROCRASTINATION 
 
 By and by — 
 
 Never fret — 
 I shall try 
 By and by. 
 
 By and by — 
 Don't forget - 
 You must die 
 By and by. 
 
 [42 
 
SHOULD FANCY CEASE 
 
 The lover's patient fancy brings him peace, 
 Paints her he loves before his inward eye, 
 
 And gives him comfort ; but should fancy cease. 
 The world would be a forest dead and dry, 
 And hearts that shrivel in the burning chaff, 
 must die. 
 
 [43] 
 
WHAT THEN? I 
 
 What if my life is fed 
 
 With all that seems most sweet ? 
 What if my foeman's head 
 
 Is ground beneath my feet ? 
 What if my wealth makes friends 
 
 Again and yet again ? 
 What if my soul ascends 
 
 Through countless lives ? What then ? 
 
 [44 
 
WHAT THEN? II 
 
 Old rags, or fine, white silk that flows and clings - 
 
 "Why should I care ? 
 Poor wife, or horses, elephants, and things — 
 
 What difference there ? 
 Sweet rice, or wretched food when day is o'er — 
 
 Why care again ? 
 God's light, or groping in the dark once more — 
 
 What then? What then? 
 
 [45] 
 
THE QUEEN OP LOVE 
 
 Surely the love-god is the slave 
 
 Of her sweet eyes ; 
 For when they give a hint, the knave 
 
 Obedient flies. 
 
 [46] 
 
JOYOUS TREASURES 
 
 How hard a thing it is that they achieve 
 
 Whose hearts the thought of God keeps pure 
 and bright, 
 
 Who for His sake earth's joyous treasures leave 
 Without a pang at losing such delight ! 
 
 Those joyous treasures I could never get ; 
 
 I cannot get them now ; I am not sure 
 That I shall ever win to them ; and yet 
 
 I cannot flout the thought, the hope, the lure. 
 
 [47] 
 
VEXATIONS I 
 
 The scholarship that grasps at straws, 
 The woman 's love that must be bought, 
 
 The life that hangs on tyrants' laws — 
 These things are with vexation fraught. 
 
 [48] 
 
VEXATIONS II 
 
 The fear of dying vexes birth ; 
 
 Age vexes flashing youth ; 
 The carper vexes honest worth ; 
 
 Irresolution, truth. 
 
 To vex our peace the women love ; 
 
 Our jo3% ambition's sting; 
 Rogues vex the court, and snakes the grove ; 
 
 And something, everything. 
 
 [49] 
 
LOVE, THE FISHER 
 
 Love, the fisher, casts his woman-hook 
 Into the sea of lust and fond desire, 
 
 And just as soon as greedy men-fish look 
 And snap the red bait, lips so sweet, so dire, 
 
 Then he is quick to catch them and to cook 
 The hungry wretches over passion's fire. 
 
 [50] 
 
EPHEMERAL POTIONS 
 
 If mouths are dry with thirst, 
 Men think of water first ; 
 If hungry, bolt their rice 
 With many a toothsome spice ; 
 If love flames bright and brighter, 
 They clasp the women tighter : 
 They have the strangest notions ; 
 They think ephemeral potions 
 Will heal the soul's commotions. 
 
 [51 
 
ALL THESE THINGS SHALL BE ADDED 
 
 What though she have a bosom sweet, 
 
 A form to beauty wed, 
 A face in which the graces meet — 
 
 She must not turn your head. 
 
 Nay, if her charm your fancy haunts, 
 Then live on virtue 's food ; 
 
 One cannot have the things he wants 
 Except by being good. 
 
 [52] 
 
THE BLIND FOREST 
 
 The lady's body is a forest blind, 
 
 With dangerous hills, her bosom fair ; 
 
 Think not to wander there, my mind ; 
 The robber, Love, is lurking there. 
 
 [53] 
 
THE LITTLENESS OF THE WORLD 
 
 Why should the truly wise man wish 
 To hold the world in fee ? 
 
 'T is but the leaping of a baby fish 
 Upon the boundless sea. 
 
 [54 
 
FRIENDSHIP S END 
 
 Yes, you were I, and I was you, 
 So fond the love that linked us two ; 
 Alas, my friend, for friendship 's end ! 
 Now I am I, and you are you. 
 
 [55] 
 
A WASTED LIFE I 
 
 No stainless wisdom have I learned ; 
 No honest money have I earned ; 
 No fond obedience have I brought 
 To parents, with a heart well-taught ; 
 I never dreamed of sweet embraces, 
 Of sparkling eyes and roguish faces : 
 My life was wasted like the crow's ; 
 I lived on strangers ' bread and blows. 
 
 [56] 
 
A WASTED LIFE II 
 
 I never learned to vanquish other men 
 
 In conference, with the just and fitting word ; 
 I never made high heaven ring again, 
 
 Praising the elephant-hunter 's sturdy sword ; 
 I never tasted honey from the kind, 
 
 Soft lips of maids when moonlight scatters 
 gloom : 
 My youth is gone and left no good behind, 
 
 A candle burning in an empty room. 
 
 [57] 
 
A WASTED LIFE III 
 
 The paths of thought I never trod 
 "Which lead to unity in God ; 
 Nor were my days to virtue given 
 Which opens wide the gates of heaven : 
 Delights of love that men esteem 
 Were mine not even in a dream : 
 I was a sorry axe in sooth 
 To cut the tree, my mother's youth. 
 
 [58] 
 
FLAMING BANNERS 
 
 Learning and dignity, 
 Wisdom and manners 
 
 Last till the god of love 
 Plants flaming banners. 
 
 59] 
 
THE THIEF OF HEARTS 
 
 You practise theft by strangest arts 
 
 Once and again ; 
 In broad daylight you steal the hearts 
 
 Of waking men. 
 
 [60] 
 
TWO KINDS OF FRIENDSHIP 
 
 The friendship of the rogue or saint, 
 Like shade at dawn or shade at noon, 
 
 Starts large and slowly grows more faint, 
 Or starting faint, grows larger soon. 
 
 [61] 
 
CHOOSING A VOCATION 
 
 What shall I do in these few hours of life ? 
 Live humbly with a sweet, religious wife ? 
 Renounce the world, the ties of kindred sever, 
 And spend my days beside the sacred river ? 
 Drink deep of honeyed poems' nectar-flow? 
 Or learn philosophy ? I hardly know. 
 
 [62] 
 
THE GOOD ARE RARE 
 
 Through thoughts and words and deeds their 
 virtues flow ; 
 To all the world their kindness brings delight ; 
 They make a mote of good in others show 
 
 Like a great mountain ; for their hearts are 
 bright, 
 And brighten all they touch with their own worth ; 
 How many such are to be found on earth ? 
 
 [63 
 
THERE WAS A NOBLE CITY 
 
 There was a noble city old, 
 A mighty king, and vassals bold ; 
 And there were gathered scholars true. 
 And moon-faced ladies not a few ; 
 And there were princes proud and free, 
 And stories told, and minstrelsy : 
 A memory now ; we mourn their fall 
 And honor Time, who levels all. 
 
 [64] 
 
WHERE EDUCATION FAILS 
 
 Though many youths a training get 
 In law, religion, etiquette, 
 Why are there few whose actions would, 
 Interpreted, seem wholly good ? 
 
 Some arching brow is sure to be 
 As cunning as a master-key. 
 That serves its purpose passing well 
 In flinging wide the gates of hell. 
 
 [65] 
 
ON GIVING A DAUGHTER IN MARRIAGE 
 
 A girl is held in trust, another 's treasure ; 
 
 To arms of love my child today is given ; 
 And now I feel a cahn and sacred pleasure ; 
 
 I have restored the pledge that came from 
 heaven. 
 
 [66 
 
STRUGGLING FANCIES 
 
 It is my body leaves my love, not I ; 
 
 My body moves away, but not my mind ; 
 For back to her my struggling fancies fly 
 
 Like silken banners borne against the wind. 
 
 [67] 
 
OH, MIGHT I END THE QUEST ! 
 
 I dug beneath the earth most greedily 
 
 In search of hidden treasure ; 
 I smelted ore ; I crossed the mighty sea, 
 
 Forgetting every pleasure ; 
 I cringed to kings ; and muddling all my brains 
 
 With magic, lost my rest : 
 But never got a penny for my pains ; 
 
 Oh, might I end the quest ! 
 
 [68] 
 
WHAT DELIGHTS AND HURTS 
 
 It is the truth sans prejudice I speak ; 
 
 Ye people, heed this truth forever true ; 
 All that delights, in women you must seek, 
 
 And all that hurts, you find in women too. 
 
 [69 
 
THE SWEETEST THINGS 
 
 The sweetest sight a man may see 
 
 Is a maiden's loving face; 
 The sweetest thing to touch should be 
 
 Her body 's close embrace ; 
 
 Her voice should be the sweetest sound ; 
 
 Her breath, the sweetest scent ; 
 The sweetest taste, the honey found 
 
 On lips to kisses lent ; 
 
 The thought of her is fervent prayer, 
 
 Religion 's sweetest part ; 
 The charm of her is everywhere 
 
 Unto the pure in heart. 
 
 [70] 
 
THE UNLUCKY MAN 
 
 A bald man once, whose hairless pate 
 
 Felt inconveniently hot, 
 Fled to a cocoa-tree at noon — 
 
 He hoped to find a shady spot. 
 And then a big nut fell, and crack ! 
 
 The poor bald head was split in two. 
 Misfortunes almost always find 
 
 The man whom evil fates pursue. 
 
 [71] 
 
A REASON FOR RENUNCIATION 
 
 Possessions leave us at the end, 
 However long they stay ; 
 
 Then why not east aside, my friend, 
 What leaves us anyway ? 
 
 And if they leave against our will, 
 The heart takes time in mending ; 
 
 If given willingly, they fill 
 
 That heart with joy unending. 
 
 [72] 
 
RENUNCIATION 
 
 What does renunciation mean ? 
 It means a lonely woodland scene 
 Remote from men and human sin, 
 From woes of love, from love of kin, 
 Free from the world, a life apart 
 That slays the tortures of the heart 
 As fear of death and fear of birth : 
 It means the best of heaven and earth. 
 
 [73] 
 
THE BETTER PAET 
 
 Is there no splendid Himalayan height, 
 
 Cooled by the spray from Ganges ' holy springs 
 
 With rocks where fairies now and then alight, 
 That men should fawn upon contemptuous 
 kings? 
 
 74 
 
THE FIVE ROBBERS 
 
 ' ' Here are banquets, and singing sweet, 
 Perfumes, and glimpse of dancing feet, 
 And bosoms that on mine may beat. ' ' 
 
 Five rascal senses whisper this. 
 Lead me from virtue much amiss, 
 And cheat me of my highest bliss. 
 
 75] 
 
WHEN WOMAN WILLS 
 
 When loving woman wants her way, 
 God hesitates to say her nay. 
 
 [76 
 
A LITTLE KNOWLEDGE 
 
 A fool's opinion easily is bent; 
 
 More easy 't is to win the wise and great ; 
 
 But God himself could never make content 
 The man who feels himself elate 
 With one small grain of knowledge in his 
 pate. 
 
 [77] 
 
THE WEAKER SEX 
 
 The classic poets make a great mistake ; 
 
 Forever of the weaker sex they speak ; 
 When gods are subjugated for the sake 
 
 Of starry glances, are the women weak ? 
 
 78] 
 
YOUNG WOMANHOOD 
 
 Half -smiles that brighten on her face, 
 
 Innocent, roving glances, 
 The wealth of budding charms that show 
 
 In little steps and dances, 
 The flow of words that shyly prove 
 
 The sweet, new woman-feeling: 
 Yes, all the fawn-eyed maiden does 
 
 Is wondrously appealing. 
 
 [79] 
 
THE BRAVEST OF THE BRAVE 
 
 A few brave men pursue 
 
 Rogue elephants to death ; 
 There are a braver few 
 
 Who stop the lion 's breath ; 
 The bravest of the brave — 
 
 And fewer yet they prove — 
 Are they who can enslave 
 
 The haughty god of love. 
 
 [80] 
 
DIGNITY 
 
 The dog will roll, and wag his tail, and fawn, 
 Show mouth and belly, just to get some meat ; 
 
 The majestic elephant gazes gravely on ; 
 
 Till coaxed a hundred times, he will not eat. 
 
 [81 
 
IN THE DAYS OF THY YOUTH 
 
 While life is vigorous and bright, 
 
 While sickness comes not, nor decay, 
 While all your powers are at their height. 
 
 While yet old age is far away. 
 Then, wise man, let your thoughts be turning 
 
 To heaven's hopes and fears of hell; 
 For when the house is fired and burning, 
 
 It is too late to dig a well. 
 
 [82] 
 
THEY WANT THE EARTH 
 
 'T is but a little ball of mud 
 
 With a streak of water round ; 
 
 Yet kings for it will shed their blood, 
 As for a treasure found. 
 
 They cannot, will not leave the thing, 
 So poor are they, so mean ; 
 
 And men will f a^vn on such a king ! 
 Oh, shame upon the scene ! 
 
 [83] 
 
THE BEASTS THAT DON T EAT GRASS 
 
 Unschooled in music, poetry, and art, 
 
 Man is a beast, a hornless, tailless beast; 
 He doesn't eat the grass ; for this at least 
 
 The other beasts may well be glad at heart. 
 
 [84 
 
WHY MEN BEG 
 
 Is there a man of spirit who would beg 
 
 In broken words that stumble M-ith his sobbing, 
 
 Harsh sobs of him who fears a surty " no ! " 
 And all to ease his belly 's empty throbbing ? 
 
 None but the man who sees his wretched wife 
 Sad always, sees her worn and ragged skirts, 
 
 L Sees sad-faced babies tugging at their folds 
 With screams that tell how fiercely hunger 
 hurts. 
 
 [85] 
 
THE WISE MISOGYNIST 
 
 The wise misogynist, poor soul, 
 
 To self-deceit is given ; 
 For heaven rewards his self-control, 
 
 And women swarm in heaven. 
 
 [86] 
 
NECTAR AND POISON 
 
 All nectar and all poison lives 
 In woman 's changing states ; 
 
 For she is nectar when she loves, 
 And poison when she hates. 
 
 87 
 
THE TWO THINGS THAT MATTER 
 
 Why all this talk and foolish chatter ? 
 There are just two things that really matter : 
 A buxom, young, and frisky wife ; 
 Or else a lonely forest-life. 
 
 [88] 
 
THE ONE THING NEEDFUL 
 
 Why should I study scripture, sacred lore, 
 Or any good, big book? Why get a store 
 
 Of pious actions, anxiously performed — 
 And win a humble tent in heaven, no more ? 
 
 The knowledge of myself is all I need 
 To give me lasting joy, to burn the seed 
 
 Of the interminable pain of life — 
 Let pious peddlars show their wares and plead. 
 
 [89] 
 
UNINTELLIGIBLE VIRTUE 
 
 Are palace-joys so incomplete ? 
 
 Is song a despicable pleasure? 
 And is there anything so sweet 
 
 As clasping her you love and treasure ? 
 
 Yet pious men account these things 
 As vain as flickering candle-light 
 
 'Neath dancing moths on troubled wings ; 
 And to the woods they take their flight. 
 
 [90 
 
THE LINES OF PATE 
 
 If thorn-plants in the desert leafless be, 
 
 The spring is not to blame. 
 If owls in broadest daylight cannot see, 
 
 The sun should feel no shame. 
 If in the plover 's bill no raindrops fall, 
 
 'T were wrong to blame the cloud. 
 The lines that fate has written once for all, 
 
 Are never disallowed. 
 
 [91 
 
POVERTY 
 
 The moon by night, the sun by day 
 Continue in their heavenly way ; 
 One rag they have, one ragged cloud 
 To serve them both as robe and shroud. 
 Poor things ! 
 
 [92] 
 
HOW HARD FATE GRIPS ! 
 
 The snake and elephant are caged ; 
 
 The moon and sun must meet eclipse ; 
 The prudent are in strife engaged 
 
 With poverty. How hard fate grips ! 
 
 [93] 
 
WHEN MY LOVE DRAWS NIGH 
 
 When my love draws nigh, 
 When his voice I hear, 
 
 Why am I all eye ? 
 Why am I all ear? 
 
 [94] 
 
THE HERMIT 
 
 I seem to see a hermit good : 
 
 He has no pride, he begs his food ; 
 
 From man-made laws his acts are free ; 
 
 He seeks no man 's society ; 
 
 He has no care for common ways 
 
 Of giving, getting all his days ; 
 
 He stitches up his garment ragged 
 
 With wayside tatters, torn and ja»ged ; 
 
 No false conceit his fancy haunts — 
 
 Eternal peace is all he wants. 
 
 [95 
 
WHY GO TO COURT ? 
 
 I am not fashion 's changing sport, 
 I never acted, sang, nor hated; 
 
 What figure should I cut at court ? 
 I am no lady languid-gaited. 
 
 [96] 
 
IMPOSSIBLE ! 
 
 The consecrated saints of eld 
 
 Who lived on water, leaves, and air. 
 
 Went mad with love when they beheld 
 A face that showed how maids are fair. 
 
 And if the common men who eat 
 
 Their rice and milk and curds and ghee, 
 Should curb the wish for things so sweet, 
 
 The mountains would fly oversea. 
 
 [97] 
 
HINDRANCES 
 
 'T would not be hard, through life 's gray sea 
 
 To find the track; 
 But fawn-eyed women hinder me, 
 
 And hold me back. 
 
 [98] 
 
DIVINE VISION 
 
 My love is in a distant land, 
 And yet I see her where I stand. 
 The gods have vision less divine, 
 Because the eye of love is mine. 
 
 [99] 
 
WHY MY POEMS DIED 
 
 The critics all were jealous, 
 The patrons full of pride, 
 
 The public had no judgment ; 
 And so my poems died. 
 
 [100] 
 
13 4814 
 

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