Snake-Charmer’s Song

    WHITHER dost thou hide from the magic of my flute-call,
    In what moonlight tangled meshes of perfume,
    Where the clustering bamboos guard the squirrel’s
            slumber,
    Where the deep woods glimmer with the champa’s bloom?

    I’ll feed thee, O beloved, on milk and wild red honey,
    I’ll bear thee in a basket of rushes green and white
    To a far-off city where entrancing maidens
    Thread with mellow laughter the petals of delight.

    Whither dost thou loiter? by what lotus fountain
    Where the midnight scatters its ambrosial fire?
    Come, thou subtle bride of my mellifluous wooing,
    Come, thou silver-breasted moonbeam of desire!

                                                              SAROJINI NAIDU