Temple Painting

Temple Painting

Here where Radha's sloe-eyed cows
have cropped the grass
short as the pile of a silken carpet,
and forest mosses form a pillow for their heads,
the god-man Krishna
bids his love lie down.

Blushing, a maiden still,
she hides her face,
yet smiles to know that in such love as this
can be no shame.
She is the chosen one,
a gentle herding girl
at once exalted and humbled
by her lord.

Beneath the sheltering boughs,
safe from curious eyes,
listening to turtledoves cooing high above,
they lie entwined like tree and vine;
and Spring drops fragile blossoms down
upon both woman and divine.

This moment is Eternity;
and lovers still in secret groves
of their desires like this will lie,
bending their bodies each to each
renewing endless
and immortal ecstasy.

(written in the 70's, while looking at a beautiful , old Hindu
painting)