-116-

Changampuzha Krishna Pillai

MANASHINI

by G. S. PMilat
Troslated

As morning burst fnto flanes of glory

and bright,
delioheautiful
Like a goiden beam of
The gold dome of the temple
G1owed afar in the morning 11ght;
Atop 1ts golden flags taff
Fluttered a colorful flag.

Beyond, anong the sno-capped mountains,

irdled with emerald-green forests.
AS the water nymph Dan
ade her offerfngs ithriaderoed
beamsofgold, the tforest air
deh an
o o alone betrayed thetr lordly presence
Played upon the viewless strings of Arti

As the soft yellow light spread,

The mists Cleareo
And a sweet murmur arose among the leaves.

On your beautiful brow

Adorned with a tilak of sandalwood paste
Dark blue curls of hair played
Like a r o of loveiy honey bees.

Your face shone 11ke a fresh lotus

Arising from the depths ofvirtue
Your dark tresses of curly hair
Tied at the end and adorned with a single rose
Resembled a huge black snake
i t h a single hood, its thousand bodies intertwined,
Lying face-dowmward on a sanda lwood creeper

You were sweet 11ke a song, 11ke aleaped

poem,
y beloved!Seeing you, y heart up
And aon red.red flower
Dripping with my heart's blood
 -117-

Imad desire awoke 1in me

To ite and write and create beauty-
Seizing the rainbo Tor a pen
And dipping it in moonlight
My fancy soared and I lost myself in the oblivion of
self-etfacement.
I wandere ed in profus
1d
Spel1bound i sto
profusion;
ion;
n

In a magnetfc field of ecstasy.

II.

The scene changed

RuthlessTme played havoc i th our out
fortunes.
npoxmade youh1deous, blotting your beauty.
urS0n edring:
anveer than alabaster,
Mas marre. ever
8y a thousand ugly scars

ragedy, 0, why, why did you ever become my Spouse?

any women came to me before
And those that came cared only for gain!
They praised me to the skies*.
Their eyes gleamed with the lust for go1d-
was shocked.

But then came you, you angel without wings,

nds,
content!
You thriied e
n e
and you were

Bringing eternity to my doors!

A Monder-Morld opened up before my eyes,
As 1f by
magiC,
And I was 1ts crowned king!

And whathas become of you today, beloved?

Py heart burns, 1t bleeds!

As Istep on the threshold of this once-happy home,

up
With sudden sweet sai lecnts
Hhen that 1ight,
Coming out of the eternal darkness of your world,
Fnis every crevice of this abode of ours with radi ance,
Why, 0, why shouldI grope in darkness?
 -118

evil instíncts
Conspire and gather strength,
tgves epower, stuff to resist their onslaught
And the struggle ends reducing them to heipless 1mpotence.

No protest notes have ever jarred

Upon the harmonious goodness of your soul.
Ana ye oiceiess anguish
Does
Lngerno1n your 1nnermost
onen ost heart?
heart?

In that face which has 10st

The power of the Play of emot1 ons,

DO not occasions show

SOe deeP 11nes of smoldering grief?
In the solem stillness of souls sad solitude,
Do not tears flow freely trom your eyes.

In dead of night during the BEdasa months,

when rains rage with thunderstorms
ou eepn peacCeea0e
elements.
he
s deafentna rar
Deep down from the fathomless caves
Of the foami ng. perilous seas
a tråne
Sending shudder through your
Joes not your harassed sou
of undivfnable cause,
the fn an anguish
fan
Like a he1pless
Under the fatal arrow of the hunter?

Maves and
upon waves of indarknessworld.
Surge solidify your
or nognt,
Not even glomworm in that derk
a
fnens1ty
Maybe, when in fondaess I approach,
shadow stirs for a moment
And then, and then that endlessly still night
Overhelmed withgrief, helpless. powerless,
escape 1nto the real of tancy.
, this anguish, heady angu1 shi
Let me leap 1nto tS depThs
e
Let music, t usic. flow
5Weet music, fiow from y
ay soul
sou