SUNSTROKE
translated into English by: Laurence Hope (1865-1904)
- H, straight, white road that runs to meet,
- Across green fields, the blue green sea,
- You knew the little weary feet
- Of my child bride that was to be!
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- Her people brought her from the shore
- One golden day in sultry June,
- And I stood, waiting, at the door,
- Praying my eyes might see her soon.
- With eager arms, wide open thrown,
- Now never to be satisfied!
- Ere I could make my love my own
- She closed her amber eyes and died.
- Alas! alas! they took no heed
- How frail she was, my little one,
- But brought her here with cruel speed
- Beneath the fierce, relentless sun.
- We laid her on the marriage bed
- The bridal flowers in her hand,
- A maiden from the ocean led
- Only, alas! to die inland.
- I walk alone; the air is sweet,
- The white road wanders to the sea,
- I dream of those two little feet
- That grew so tired in reaching me.
"Sunstroke" is reprinted from India's Love Lyrics. Trans. Laurence Hope. New York: John Lane Co., 1906. |
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