The Birth of Kumāra 1.39

1.39

madhyena sā vedivilagnamadhyā valitrayaṃ cāru babhāra bālā |
ārohaṇārthaṃ navayauvanena kāmasya sopānamiva prayuktam ||

That scorns the wine-cup's help to fire the heart,
The bow of Love without his flowery dart;
There was a glory beaming from her face,
With love's own light, and every youthful grace:
Ne'er pictured lily more divinely fair
Unclosed her beauty to the morning air.
Bright as a Lotus, springing where she trod,
Her glowing feet shed radiance o'er the sod:
That arching neck, the step, the glance aside.
The proud swans taught her as they stemmed the tide,
Whilst of the maiden they would fondly learn
Her anclets' pleasant music in return.
When the Almighty Maker first began
The marvellous beauty of that child to plan.
In full fair symmetry each rounded limb
Grew neatly fashioned and approved by Him:
The rest was faultless, for the Artist's care
Formed each young charm most excellently fair.
As if his moulding hand would fain express
The visible type of perfect loveliness.
What thing of beauty may the poet dare
With the smooth wonder of those limbs compare?
The young tree springing by the brooklet's side—
The rounded trunk, the forest-monarch's pride?
O no!—too cold, too chilling cold, the tree,—
This, too unyielding for such rivalry.
Her hidden beauties though no tongue may tell,
Yet Siva's love will aid the fancy well;
No other maid could deem her boasted charms
Worthy the clasp of such a husband's arms.
Between the partings of fair Uma's vest
Came hasty glimpses of a lovely breast:
So closely there the kissing hillocks rose,
Scarce could the Lotus in the vale repose;

And if her loosened zone e'er slipped below,
All was so bright beneath the mantle's flow.
So dazzling bright, as if the maid had braced
A band of gems to sparkle round her waist;
While the dear dimples of her downy skin
Seemed fitting couch for Love to revel in.
Her arms were softer than the flowery dart,
Young Káma's arrow, that subdues the heart;
For vain his strife with Siva, till at last
He chose those chains to bind his conqueror fast.
E'en the new Moon poured down a paler beam
When her long fingers flashed their rosy gleam,
And brighter than Asoka's rich leaves threw
A glory round, like summer's evening hue.
The strings of pearl across her bosom thrown
Increased its beauty, and enhanced their own,—
Her breast, her jewels seeming to agree,
The adorner now, and now the adorned to be.
When Beauty gazes on the fair full Moon,
No Lotus charms her, for it blooms at noon:
If on that flower she feed her raptured eye,
No Moon is shining from the mid-day sky;
She looked on Uma's face, more heavenly fair,
And found their glories both united there.
The loveliest flower that ever opened yet
Laid in the fairest branch—a pearl that's set
In richest coral—with her smile might vie
Flashing through lips bright with their rosy dye.
And when she spoke—upon the maiden's tongue
Distilling nectar, such rare accents hung,
The sweetest note that e'er the Koil poured
Seemed harsh and tuneless as a jarring chord.
The melting glance of that soft Hquid eye,