Today's Beautiful Gem: `Spring Song' by Hermann Hesse,
translated by Ludwig Lewisohn.

"The storm cries every night,
Its great, moist wing falters and sweeps,
In dreamy flight the plover falls;
Now nothing sleeps
And through the land stirs new delight,
For the spring calls.

"Oh in these nights I cannot sleep
Youth stirs my heart!
From the blue wells of memory start
The ardent glories of that dawn
And look at me with eyes so deep,
And tremble, and are gone.

"Be still, my heart, give o'er!
Though in the heavy blood holds sway
The passionate sweet pain
And lead thee the old paths again--
Unto youth's land no more
Forever goes thy way."

Note: In these columns, I strive to acquaint the readers with the
best poetry that includes classical as well as modern poetry from
the Indian subcontinent. A short historical introduction to the
Indian literature (Sanskrit and Tamil) is very ably presented in
that beautiful book by Basham `The Wonder that was India'. This
book is published by Rupa in India. In some big cities of the USA,
you may find it in used book stores. Recently, I saw one in the
Washington DC area. In case readers are interested, I will present
a short list of interesting books for their reading pleasure.
South Asia Books in Columbia, Missouri and the Vedanta Society in
San Fransisco stock a lot of Indian books.

om s'aantih: Peace! - J. K. Mohana Rao

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