Love

Hearken, prithee, heartless Hari

by Vidyapati c. 1352-1448

Translated by Ananda Coomaraswamy and Arun Sen (1915) · From Bangiya Padabali (trans. 1915)

Love

Rādhā:
Hearken, prithee, heartless Hari,
Fie on your such love!
Why did you speak of keeping tryst,
And with another maiden spent the night?

You make pretence of love for Rāi,
And dally with another girl:
Who says brave Kānu is best of lovers?
No such another fool is in the world.

Refusing ruby, you seek for glass,
Leaving an lake of nectar, you long for brine,
Forsaking a sea of curds, to wanton in a well,--
Fie on your amorous blandishment!

Vidyāpati the lord of poets avows:
Rādhā will never look upon your face again.

✦ ✦ ✦

Wilfulness, LXXIV

MLA

Vidyapati. “Hearken, prithee, heartless Hari.” Translated by Ananda Coomaraswamy and Arun Sen. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/vidyapati/73/.

Chicago

Vidyapati. “Hearken, prithee, heartless Hari.” Translated by Ananda Coomaraswamy and Arun Sen. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/vidyapati/73/.

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