SOME VERSES FROM TIBETAN LOVE-SONGS.
A woman sings to a man whose affection for her is waning:
“As a great mountain, with its cooling streams,
Nourishes the little fields far down below,
Do you, my lover, with a stream of love,
Nourish the heart of her who loves you so.”
The man replies to the woman:
“When autumn chills destroy the honeyed flowers,
The bees must do without their favourite food;
So when my passion cools, and dies my love,
You should submit to this my changéd mood.”
A man sings to a woman:
“Up every rocky cliff some path exists,
If one can find a guide to show the way;
So to your heart some avenue must lead,
Teach me, forthwith, that path of love, I pray.”
The woman replies:
“Were I inclined to grant this fruit[1] to you,
The gift were thine at once—to-day, to-morrow.
But oh! I fear that lurking at your back,
Are demons red[2] to bring me endless sorrow.”
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[1] I.e., her heart. She compares her heart ripe with love to a ripe fruit. [↑]
[2] Presumably she means the man’s passions. She compares them to the terrific demons (red is the angry colour) of Tibetan Lamaist mythology. [↑]