ove that maiden heart to lover bears. 46

[_Vasantasena betrays her passion, and throws her arms about Charudatta.
Charudatta feels her touch, and embraces her._]

_Charudatta._

More grimly yet, O thunder, boom;
For by thy grace and power
My love-distracted limbs now bloom
Like the kadamba flower.
Her dear touch all my being thrills,
And love my inmost spirit fills. 47

_Maitreya._ Confound you, storm! You are no gentleman, to
frighten the lady with the lightning.

[91.20. S.

_Charudatta._

Do not rebuke the storm, my friend.
Let ceaseless rain a hundred years endure,
The lightning quiver, and the thunder peal;
For what I deemed impossible is sure:
Her dear-loved arms about my neck I feel. 48

And oh, my friend,

He only knows what riches are,
Whose love comes to him from afar,
Whose arms that dearest form enfold,
While yet with rain 't is wet and cold. 49

Vasantasena, my beloved,

The masonry is shaken; and so old
The awning, that 't will not much longer hold.
Heavy with water is the painted wall,
From which dissolving bits of mortar fall. 50

[_He looks up._] The rainbow! See, my beloved, see!

See how they yawn, the cloudy jaws of heaven,
As by a tongue, by forked lightning riven;
And to the sky great Indra's fiery bow
In lieu of high-uplifted arms is given. 51

Come, let us seek a shelter. [_He rises and walks about._]

On palm-trees shrill,
On thickets still,
On boulders dashing,
On waters splashing,
Like a lute that, smitten, sings,
The rainy music rings. 52

[_Exeunt omnes._

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 60: In Indian love poetry, the rainy season is the time when
lovers most ardently long to be united.]

[Footnote 61: In allusion to Vishnu's name, Krishna, "black."]

[Footnote 62: A gesture of respect.]

[Footnote 63: The goddess of wealth and beauty, usually represented with
a lotus.]

[Footnote 64: Kama's (Cupid's) arrows are flowers.]

[Footnote 65: Throughout this scene, Vasantasena's verses are in
Sanskrit. Compare note 1 on page 73.]

[Footnote 66: The cry of the heron resembles the Sanskrit word for
"rain." Indian love-poetry often pain