Love

Epigram XX

by Bhartrihari traditionally 5th–7th century AD

Translated by Paul Elmer More (1898) · From A Century of Indian Epigrams (1898)

Love

Harder than faces in a glass designed,
A woman's heart to bind;
Like mountain paths up cragged heights that twist,
Her ways are lightly missed.

Like early dew-drops quivering on a leaf,
Her thoughts are idly brief;
And errors round her grow, as on a vine
The poison-tendrils twine.

MLA

Bhartrihari. “Epigram XX.” Translated by Paul Elmer More. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/bhartrihari/19/.

Chicago

Bhartrihari. “Epigram XX.” Translated by Paul Elmer More. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/bhartrihari/19/.

Read this poem with the Codex →

More by Bhartrihari