Classic Poem

Purananuru 251

We've seen him before
in a house
spaced as in a picture,

with small-bangled women,
mirror images
of the goddess on the hill:

this charmer,
how he made them all lovesick
till their ornaments came loose.

Now he bathes
among bamboos
in the tall hill's waterfalls,

lights red fires
with wood
that wild elephants bring,

and dries the twists of hair
that hang down his back.