Notes to Myself 5

I picked up this book of translation of ancient Sanskrit poems at a Landmark sale. 
And the second poem I read hit me and I am still reeling in its impact. 


Her quick eyes
and animated mouth
unsettle me.
So, of course, 
her lifted breasts, 
full lips -
soft fruits of desire.
But why should a 
single wisp of hair, 
stroked beneath her
navel like
some unforgettable 
line of poetry,
reduce me to such
anguish?
- Bhartrihari


And there were a few more gems too. For example, 


This time let me
be the lady
you play the lover--


to which the girl
protests
shaking her head
but eyes
wide like a
deer's eyes she threads
a bracelet onto 
his wrist
-Anonymous




Wow, no? And check this one out.


Little gasps
of breath, 
her eyelids barely parted, 
bristling skin
and beads of sweat--


above love's temple waves
love's banner,
and I 
can only bow my head
at the mysterious change
a woman
undergoes--
- Anonymous


And this...


A snatch of dream, 
a juggler's contrivance--
making love to her
lasts a flickering instant, 
then disillusion.
A hundred times
I tell myself this
but still can't forget
those antelope eyes.
-Dharmakirti




And this is pretty clever.


Once again
you mount this playful
woman's breasts and touch
the tender region
along her thighs.
Closing one arm around you
she draws forth
your pleasure
with measured strokes
of her hand.
Some other lifetime
what austerities
did you practice, O sitar, 
to win this reward?
-Vacaspati




And this one is for you, my love. 


Last year and each
year  before, 
birdsong and spiced wind
blew down from the 
Kerala hills.
But restless, unbridled, 
my wits, friend, 
have never been 
so distracted as this year. 
-Utpalaraja



This one is for me.


Fate is a cruel
and proficient potter, 
my friend. Forcibly
spinning the wheel
of anxiety, he lifts mosfortune
like a cutting tool. Now, 
having kneaded my heart
like a lump of clay, 
he lays it on his 
wheel and gives a spin. 
What he intends to produce
I cannot tell. 
-Vidya


I can only wonder how fantastic these would sound in Sanskrit. And to think these were written atleast a thousand years back...
Sigh.

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Starting tomorrow, I run. 
Wish me luck.