My Lost Jewel

BY Dr. MAYADHAR MANSIMHA
(Rendered by the Author from Oriya)

As the cow bellows for the distant calf,
As the lonely dove fills the woodland with pity,
As plants yearn for the sunshine,
So do I pine for thee and weep,
My dear little lost jewel!

Like one suddenly gone blind,
Like the rich robbed of his all overnight,
I grope in the darkness of sudden bereavement,
My dear little lost jewel!

Like a golden lotus you hung on my breast,
Your ill-uttered first words were music divine,
But that speech, that smile, those frolics of yours
Are now but cruel memories,
My dear little lost jewel!

On the same breast that you oft adorned like a golden lotus,
I carried your limbs, stiff with the touch of death,
And laid them on the pyre wailing over my fate
And wishing to share the same bed with you;
My dear little lost jewel!

Didn’t I often look into your divine eyes and say,
“Meseems, child, you have come under this roof by a mistake,
For, such as you, are not to be claimed in homes like mine”?
Why indeed did you come unasked and dash my hopes as naively!
My dear little lost jewel!

Are you in the sky, in the winds, or in the under-world?
Might you not be suffering from the elements?
Might you not be feeling hunger and thirst?
Between whose snug arms will you spend the terrific rainy night?
My dear little lost jewel!

I go the daily rounds meeting the needs of existence,
But, in the dark inner chambers, ceaseless burns the fire of your memory.
Kept alive with the fuel of tears,
And the soul keeps crying out your name day and night;
My dear little lost jewel!