You came as light―
A stranger in a foreign land.
Out of life’s boredom and emptiness,
Your face shone bright through my gloom.
All the heart’s sorrows, in the sweltering noon,
You have dissolved at your slightest touch.
Stranger, you have discovered me,
As I have never discovered myself.
Our embraces have grown like the banyan:
One, yet many, and many, yet one― inseparable.
I have spread my roots deep into your soul,
And you have sheltered me with your branches.
We have forgotten now where we once began,
Past and future lost, only an eternal present languishes.
I said to you― I am too dark a place for you, my love.
And you said― so is this universe, for all light is illusion.
Perhaps you are a night flower, you whispered to me,
For you have blossomed in the darkness of your life.
O Stranger, I think we are both blossoms of the night,
And our coming together is the colliding of stars―
We are flowers of the fire, destined to set all ablaze.
I recall your embrace that lasted a thousand summers,
For a thousand winters of my soul they warmed up―
Look, Stranger― look what you made me do!
You cast but a lonely seed, and I bloomed an orchard,
You threw but a tinder, and I blazed forth like wildfire!
So then, mi amor, this is me, for you―
I have poured all my joy into my words,
And now I unleash my ecstasy upon the world:
O Stranger― I bring for you my undying dawn!
For P. N.―
Surat, Kārttika Śuklā Caturthī,
The 11th of November in 2018 CE.