The village slept in the noonday heat. The road lay deserted.
In sudden fits the rustling of the leaves rose and died.
I gazed at the sky and wove in the blue the letters of a name I had known, while the village slept in the noonday heat.
I had forgotten to braid my hair. The languid breeze played with it upon my cheek.
The river ran unruffled under the shady bank.
The lazy white clouds did not move.
I had forgotten to braid my hair.
It was mid-day when you went away.
The dust of the road was hot and the fields panting.
The doves cooed among the dense leaves.
I was alone in my balcony when you went away.
The Gardener 56
I was one among many women busy with the obscure daily tasks of the household.
Why did you single me out and bring me away from the cool shelter of our common life?
Love unexpressed is sacred. It shines like gems in the gloom of the hidden heart.In the light of the curious day it looks pitifully dark.
Ah, you broke through the cover of my heart and dragged my trembling love into the open place, destroying for ever the shady corner where it hid its nest.
The other women are the same as ever.
No one has peeped into their inmost being, and they themselves know not their own secret.
Lightly they smile, and weep, chatter, and work. Daily they go to the temple, light their lamps, and fetch water from the river.
I hoped my love would be saved from the shivering shame of the shelterless, but you turn your face away.