In liquid sounds tumble rapture and sweetness of desire

Stepping out of the worlds of infinity,

Bearing yet memory of the ancient home,

Flame-bright, they came,—the guardians of life.

In man happy were they, and truer grew,

And poured in him the little fire of the sun.

They raised his hopes to the unknown’s greatness,

And filled his pink-new soul with strengthening wine:

Secret in his heart burns their splendid will.

Through the fields of harmony, in liquid sounds

Tumble rapture and sweetness of their desire;

In the green valley is heard rustle of their robes:

They hold in luminous sleep the creation’s Word.

From the other end where Death is the beginning

Crawls the Infant with a crescent on his head:

Now must these tireless gods and goddesses

With their radiant feet walk on the Earth’s brow.

RY Deshpande

5 December 1983