Today's Beautiful Gem: 'Raatri' - A hymn to personified night from Rg Veda

"The goddess Night has looked abroad
with her eyes, everywhere drawing near.
She has put all her glories on.

"The immortal goddess now has filled
wide space, its depths and heights.
Her radiance drives out the dark.

"Approaching, the goddess has expelled
her sister Dawn.
Now darkness also disappears.

"And so you have drawn near to us,
who at your coming have come home
as birds to their nest upon the tree.

"The clans have now gone home to rest,
home the beasts, and home the birds,
home even the hawks who lust for prey.

"Guard us from the she-wolf and the wolf,
and guard us from the thief, O Night,
and so be good for us to pass.

"For darkness, blotting out, has come
near me, black and palapable.
O Dawn, dispel it like my debts.

"I have offered my hymn as a cow
is offered, Daughter of Heaven. O Night,
accept it, as a victor praise."

Om Santih! Peace! - J. K. Mohana Rao

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