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第6章

the golden threshold-第6章

小说: the golden threshold 字数: 每页4000字

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A young queen eyed like the morning star:

〃I bring thee a rival; O Queen Gulnaar。〃



But still she gazed in her mirror and sighed:

〃O King; my heart is unsatisfied。〃



Seven queens shone round her ivory bed;

Like seven soft gems on a silken thread;



Like seven fair lamps in a royal tower;

Like seven bright petals of Beauty's flower



Queen Gulnaar sighed like a murmuring rose

〃Where is my rival; O King Feroz?〃





III



When spring winds wakened the mountain floods;

And kindled the flame of the tulip buds;

When bees grew loud and the days grew long;

And the peach groves thrilled to the oriole's song;



Queen Gulnaar sat on her ivory bed;

Decking with jewels her exquisite head;



And still she gazed in her mirror and sighed:

〃O King; my heart is unsatisfied。〃



Queen Gulnsar's daughter two spring times old;

In blue robes bordered with tassels of gold;



Ran to her knee like a wildwood fay;

And plucked from her hand the mirror away。



Quickly she set on her own light curls

Her mother's fillet with fringes of pearls;



Quickly she turned with a child's caprice

And pressed on the mirror a swift; glad kiss。



Queen Gulnaar laughed like a tremulous rose:

〃Here is my rival; O King Feroz。〃







THE POET TO DEATH



Tarry a while; O Death; I cannot die

While yet my sweet life burgeons with its spring;

Fair is my youth; and rich the echoing boughs

Where dhadikulas sing。



Tarry a while; O Death; I cannot die

With all my blossoming hopes unharvested;

My joys ungarnered; all my songs unsung;

And all my tears unshed。



Tarry a while; till I am satisfied

Of love and grief; of earth and altering sky;

Till all my human hungers are fulfilled;

O Death; I cannot die!







THE INDIAN GIPSY



In tattered robes that hoard a glittering trace

Of bygone colours; broidered to the knee;

Behold her; daughter of a wandering race;

Tameless; with the bold falcon's agile grace;

And the lithe tiger's sinuous majesty。



With frugal skill her simple wants she tends;

She folds her tawny heifers and her sheep

On lonely meadows when the daylight ends;

Ere the quick night upon her flock descends

Like a black panther from the caves of sleep。



Time's river winds in foaming centuries

Its changing; swift; irrevocable course

To far off and incalculable seas;

She is twin…born with primal mysteries;

And drinks of life at Time's forgotten source。







TO MY CHILDREN



Jaya Surya; aetat 4



Golden sun of victory; born

In my life's unclouded morn;

In my lambent sky of love;

May your growing glory prove

Sacred to your consecration;

To my heart and to my nation。

Sun of victory; may you be

Sun of song and liberty。





Padmaja; aetat 3



Lotus…maiden; you who claim

All the sweetness of your name;

Lakshmi; fortune's queen; defend you;

Lotus…born like you; and send you

Balmy moons of love to bless you;

Gentle joy…winds to caress you。

Lotus…maiden; may you be

Fragrant of all ecstasy。





Ranadheera; aetat 2



Little lord of battle; hail

In your newly…tempered mail!

Learn to conquer; learn to fight

In the foremost flanks of right;

Like Valmiki's heroes bold;

Rubies girt in epic gold。

Lord of battle; may you be;

Lord of love and chivalry。





Lilamani; aetat 1



Limpid jewel of delight

Severed from the tender night

Of your sheltering mother…mine;

Leap and sparkle; dance and shine;

Blithely and securely set

In love's magic coronet。

Living jewel; may you be

Laughter…bound and sorrow…free。







THE PARDAH NASHIN



Her life is a revolving dream

Of languid and sequestered ease;

Her girdles and her fillets gleam

Like changing fires on sunset seas;

Her raiment is like morning mist;

Shot opal; gold and amethyst。



From thieving light of eyes impure;

From coveting sun or wind's caress;

Her days are guarded and secure

Behind her carven lattices;

Like jewels in a turbaned crest;

Like secrets in a lover's breast。



But though no hand unsanctioned dares

Unveil the mysteries of her grace;

Time lifts the curtain unawares;

And Sorrow looks into her face 。 。 。

Who shall prevent the subtle years;

Or shield a woman's eyes from tears?







TO YOUTH



O Youth; sweet comrade Youth; wouldst thou be gone?

Long have we dwelt together; thou and I;

Together drunk of many an alien dawn;

And plucked the fruit of many an alien sky。



Ah; fickle friend; must I; who yesterday

Dreamed forwards to long; undimmed ecstasy;

Henceforward dream; because thou wilt not stay;

Backward to transient pleasure and to thee?



I give thee back thy false; ephemeral vow;

But; O beloved comrade; ere we part;

Upon my mournful eyelids and my brow

Kiss me who hold thine image in my heart。







NIGHTFALL IN THE CITY OF HYDERABAD



See how the speckled sky burns like a pigeon's throat;

Jewelled with embers of opal and peridote。



See the white river that flashes and scintillates;

Curved like a tusk from the mouth of the city…gates。



Hark; from the minaret; how the muezzin's call

Floats like a battle…flag over the city wall。



From trellised balconies; languid and luminous

Faces gleam; veiled in a splendour voluminous。



Leisurely elephants wind through the winding lanes;

Swinging their silver bells hung from their silver chains。



Round the high Char Minar sounds of gay cavalcades

Blend with the music of cymbals and serenades。



Over the city bridge Night comes majestical;

Borne like a queen to a sumptuous festival。







STREET CRIES



When dawn's first cymbals beat upon the sky;

Rousing the world to labour's various cry;

To tend the flock; to bind the mellowing grain;

From ardent toil to forge a little gain;

And fasting men go forth on hurrying feet;

BUY BREAD; BUY BREAD; rings down the eager street。



When the earth falters and the waters swoon

With the implacable radiance of noon;

And in dim shelters koils hush their notes;

And the faint; thirsting blood in languid throats

Craves liquid succour from the cruel heat;

BUY FRUIT; BUY FRUIT; steals down the panting street。



When twilight twinkling o'er the gay bazaars;

Unfurls a sudden canopy of stars;

When lutes are strung and fragrant torches lit

On white roof…terraces where lovers sit

Drinking together of life's poignant sweet;

BUY FLOWERS; BUY FLOWERS; floats down the singing street。







TO INDIA



O young through all thy immemorial years!

Rise; Mother; rise; regenerate from thy gloom;

And; like a bride high…mated with the spheres;

Beget new glories from thine ageless womb!



The nations that in fettered darkness weep

Crave thee to lead them where great mornings break 。 。 。 。

Mother; O Mother; wherefore dost thou sleep?

Arise and answer for thy children's sake!



Thy Future calls thee with a manifold sound

To crescent honours; splendours; victories vast;

Waken; O slumbering Mother and be crowned;

Who once wert empress of the sovereign Past。







THE ROYAL TOMBS OF GOLCONDA



I muse among these silent fanes

Whose spacious darkness guards your dust;

Around me sleep the hoary plains

That hold your ancient wars in trust。

I pause; my dreaming spirit hears;

Across the wind's unquiet tides;

The glimmering music of your spears;

The laughter of your royal brides。



In vain; O Kings; doth time aspire

To make your names oblivion's sport;

While yonder hill wears like a tier

The ruined grandeur of your fort。

Though centuries falter and decline;

Your proven strongholds shall remain

Embodied memories of your line;

Incarnate legends of your reign。



O Queens; in vain old Fate decreed

Your flower…like bodies to the tomb;

Death is in truth the vital seed

Of your imperishable bloom

Each new…born year the bulbuls sing

Their songs of your renascent loves;

Your

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