She who with the wearer of the garland
lies in dalliance.
With him whose lovely mouth is like a
lotus that is opening,
With him whose words are nectar in their
sweetness and their tenderness,
With him who wears a garment streaked
with gold, all white and
beautiful
Not made to sigh is she, my friend, derided
by her girls!
Next morning Radha is standing with her girls when Krishna tries to approach her. Now, however, he has come too late. Radha has suffered too greatly. Her patience is at an end and although Krishna implores her to forgive him, she rounds on him in anger, ordering him to return to the other girl whom he has just left.[57]
Your mouth, O Krishna, darkened, enhances
the crimson beauty of
your lovely body,
Enhances with a, darkness, a blackness
that arises from the kissing of
eyes coloured with black unguent.
Go, Krishna, go. Desist from uttering
these deceitful words.
Follow her, you lotus-eyed, she who can
dispel your trouble, go to
her.
I who follow you devoted—how
can you deceive me, so tortured by
love’s fever as I am?
O Krishna, like the look of you, your
body which appears so black,
that heart of yours a blackness
shall assume.
Follow her, you lotus-eyed, she who can
dispel your trouble, go to her.
Faced with these reproaches, Krishna slinks away. Radha’s friend knows, however, that despite her bitter anger, Radha desires nothing more than his love. She attempts, therefore, to instil in her a calmer frame of mind, urging her to end her pride and take Krishna back. She goes to look for Krishna and while she is absent, Krishna returns. Standing before Radha, he implores her once again to end her anger.
If you speak but a little the moon-like
gleam of your teeth will destroy
the darkness frightful, so
very terrible, come over me;
Your moon of a face which glitters upon
my eye, the moon-bird’s eye,
now makes me long for the
sweet of your lips.
O loved one, O beautiful, give up that
baseless pride against me,
My heart is burnt by the fire of longing;
give me that drink so sweet
of your lotus face.
O you with beautiful teeth, if you are
in anger against me, strike me
then with your finger nails,
sharp and like arrows,
Bind me, entwining, with the cords of
your arms, and bite me then
with your teeth, and feel
happy punishing.
O loved one, O beautiful, give up that
baseless pride against me.
At these words, Radha’s anger leaves her; and when Krishna withdraws, it is to go to the forest and await her coming. Radha’s joy returns. She decks herself in the loveliest of her ornaments and then, accompanied by her maids, moves slowly to the tryst.[58] As they reach the bower which Krishna has constructed, her friend urges her to enter.
O you who bear on your face the smile
that comes of the ardour of
passion
Sport with him whose love-abode is the
floor of the beautiful bower.