A History of Indian Literature v3.c35.s2.31

v3.c35.s2.31

*adhanasyeva dātṛtvaṁ klībasyevāstrakauśalaṁ* ।
*ajñasyeva pragalbhatvam akaveḥ śāstravedanam* ॥
"Like generosity to a beggar,
Or like bravery to a coward,
Or proficiency in arts to the unlettered,
Rhetoric science hath no meaning,
To one, who is not a poet."
*vinayena vinā kā śrīḥ kā niśā śaśinā vinā* ।
*rahitā satkavitvena kīdṛśī vāgvidagdhatā* ॥
"What charm is there in beauty lacking grace?
Or there in night's wan moonless face?
Or without poetic touch or fling or trace,
What sort of beauty one finds in words?"
*akavitvaṁ adharmāya vyādhaye daṇḍanāya vā* ।
*kukavitvaṁ tu punaḥ sākṣān mṛtim āhurmanīṣiṇaḥ* ॥
"To miss the poetic "mark" is just a lack in (physical, mental, social) health; naught more.
But to have taste's ah, unpoetic worse:
'tis deardly, death itself, an irrevocable sore".