Each day the breasts of Radha swelled. 
  Her hips grew shapely, her waist more slender. 
  Love’s secrets stole upon her eyes. 
  Startled her childhood sought escape. 
  Her plum-like breasts grew large,
  Harder and crisper, aching for love. 
  Krishna soon saw her as she bathed
  Her filmy dress still clinging to her breasts,
  Her tangled tresses falling on her heart,
  A golden image swathed in yak’s tail plumes. 
  Says Vidyapati:  O wonder of women,
  Only a handsome man can long for her.

  (Vidyapati)

  v

  There was a shudder in her whispering voice. 
  She was shy to frame her words. 
  What has happened tonight to lovely Radha? 
  Now she consents, now she is scared. 
  When asked for love, she closes up her eyes,
  Eager to reach the ocean of desire. 
  He begs her for a kiss. 
  She turns her mouth away
  And then, like a night lily, the moon seized her. 
  She felt his touch startling her girdle. 
  She knew her love treasure was being robbed. 
  With her dress she covered up her breasts. 
  The treasure was left uncovered. 
  Vidyapati wonders at the neglected bed. 
  Lovers are busy in each other’s arms.

  (Vidyapati)

  vi

  Awake, Radha, awake
  Calls the parrot and its love
  For how long must you sleep,
  Clasped to the heart of your Dark-stone? 
  Listen.  The dawn has come
  And the red shafts of the sun
  Are making us shudder.

  (Vidyapati)

  vii

  Startled, the parrot calls. 
  See those young lovers are still asleep. 
  On a bed of tender leaves
  His dark figure is lying still. 
  She, the fair one,
  Looks like a piece of jewelled gold. 
  They have emptied their quivers. 
  All their flower-arrows are discharged,
  Drowning each other in the joy of love. 
  O lovely Radha, awake. 
  Your friends are going to the temple. 
  Asks Govind Das: 
  Whose business is it
  To interrupt the ways of love?

  (Govind Das)

In another kind of poem, Radha and Krishna are themselves made to speak—­Krishna, for example, describing his first glimpses of Radha and Radha struggling to evoke in words the ecstasies of their love.

  viii

  Like stilled lightning her fair face. 
  I saw her by the river,
  Her hair dressed with jasmine,
  Plaited like a coiled snake. 
  O friend, I will tell you
  The secret of my heart. 
  With her darting glances
  And gentle smiles
  She made me wild with love. 
  Throwing and catching a ball of flowers,
  She showed me to the full
  Her youthful form. 
  Uptilted breasts
  Peeped from her dress. 
  Her face was bright
  With taunting smiles. 
  With anklet bells
  Her feet shone red. 
  Says Chandi Das: 
  Will you see her again?