I have seen a woman of beauty infinite
The delightful handiwork of nature
Of body delicate, of limb expansive
Alight with beauty, the divine Rati
A golden sculpture she, a pretty verse
Learned in the languages, a second Saraswati
Her smile, languid and endearingly bright
Like the joy-giving light on a full moon night
Her full-moon face with its sweet lips,
Broad hips, generous buttocks,
Her breasts are a pair of golden pitchers,
She is indeed the divine embodiment of the Sringara Rasa, goddess of youth
Loving she has bound me
With her delightful words, her affection and her passion
She attracts my heart with love for her incomparable beauty
As a needle to a magnet,
Divine thief of hearts, she has stolen my senses
And on them has inscribed her passion in lines by her glances
Beauty personified, a girl divine,
Full of youth she is aesthetic sensuousness incarnate
The fruit of intense love-penance
She is the harmonious note of the lovingly tuned veena
With supreme bliss I recollect her beauty
And under her sway think about her love inspiring form
She is Radha enacting the rasaleela in my inner Brindavana,
Together with my love-filled heart play the role of Krishna
Every tiny portion of her sensuous figure
Is like a flower-dart from Ananga’s sugarcane bow
When sating ourselves subservient with amorous sport Vatsayana’s love-game instructions bear fruit
To enjoy the pleasurable act of love with her soft creeper body
And to soothe my fiery heart,
I will beg my pretty friend,
“Grant me the alms of love-making with you, my dear Rasaannapoorneswari!”
She is a wave of beauty, a stream of love,
My beloved who bestows immortal happiness
Sanskrit Original and translation: Varanasi Ramabrahmam
(The Sanskrit Original “Soundaryalahari” can be viewed at Sanskrit Literature at the website; www.venetiaansell.wordpress.com by clicking on “contributed pieces” or “original compositions” )
