कविकौमुदी /14
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To the Cuckoo
[^5]
Why is the cuckoo, the best of its kind,
So kindly for no reason at all?
My ears scorched by vixenish cries
It soothes by nectar-strains so sweet!
[^6]
I wish thee good luck, O best of singing birds!
For thou delightest the world distraught
By the piercing yelps of wild jackals;
Piping thy songs so sweet and gay,
Thy songs that breathe ecstatic delight,
Brimming with taste of bliss divine
In music sublime through melody attained
By dint of practice again and again.
[^7]
O best of birds, if regaled we are
By the sweetest nectar of thy song
Poured forth in thy goodness out to aid
Others in distress and not for gain,
It is because the mango-tree provides
A support so firm and fine to thee.
May, then, that tree for ever thrive
With wealth of tender shoots and leaves.
[^8]
O songster sweet, thy voice is wasted
In woodland wild with teeming beasts;
I wish thou thrilled the hearts of lovers
That keep their vigil in bowers sweet.
[^9]
The Swan from heaven to earth descends
To meet the mango-tree renowned
As a shelter of songbirds sweet;
By luck, the screeching crows are gone
And now is thine opportunity
To sing the glory of the lovely tree.
[^5] The indirect reference is to the genuine poet all but ignored amidst poetasters.
[^6] The conscious art of the poet leading to inevitable delight is the subject of this
quatrain.
[^7] The implicit meaning relates to the poet's best wishes for his patron.
[^8] The poet feels that the atmosphere of a royal court is more conducive to poetry
than the countryside.
[^9] The swan represents a literary critic with fine sensibility; in whose presence, the
poet's muse will flow out in praise of his great patron.
[^5]
Why is the cuckoo, the best of its kind,
So kindly for no reason at all?
My ears scorched by vixenish cries
It soothes by nectar-strains so sweet!
[^6]
I wish thee good luck, O best of singing birds!
For thou delightest the world distraught
By the piercing yelps of wild jackals;
Piping thy songs so sweet and gay,
Thy songs that breathe ecstatic delight,
Brimming with taste of bliss divine
In music sublime through melody attained
By dint of practice again and again.
[^7]
O best of birds, if regaled we are
By the sweetest nectar of thy song
Poured forth in thy goodness out to aid
Others in distress and not for gain,
It is because the mango-tree provides
A support so firm and fine to thee.
May, then, that tree for ever thrive
With wealth of tender shoots and leaves.
[^8]
O songster sweet, thy voice is wasted
In woodland wild with teeming beasts;
I wish thou thrilled the hearts of lovers
That keep their vigil in bowers sweet.
[^9]
The Swan from heaven to earth descends
To meet the mango-tree renowned
As a shelter of songbirds sweet;
By luck, the screeching crows are gone
And now is thine opportunity
To sing the glory of the lovely tree.
[^5] The indirect reference is to the genuine poet all but ignored amidst poetasters.
[^6] The conscious art of the poet leading to inevitable delight is the subject of this
quatrain.
[^7] The implicit meaning relates to the poet's best wishes for his patron.
[^8] The poet feels that the atmosphere of a royal court is more conducive to poetry
than the countryside.
[^9] The swan represents a literary critic with fine sensibility; in whose presence, the
poet's muse will flow out in praise of his great patron.