Here you will find the Long Poem The Cloud Messenger - Part 03 of poet Kalidasa
Where the palaces are worthy of comparison to you in these various aspects: you possess lightning, they have lovely women; you have a rainbow, they are furnished with pictures; they have music provided by resounding drums, you produce deep, gentle rumbling; you have water within, they have floors made of gemstones; you are lofty, their rooftops touch the sky; Where there are decorative lotuses in the hands of the young wives; fresh jasmine woven into their hair; where the beauty of their faces is made whiter by the pollen of lodhra flowers; in the thick locks on their crowns are fresh kurubaka flowers; on their ears charming shirisa flowers; and on the parting of their hair, nipa flowers that bloom on your arrival; Where the trees, humming with intoxicated bees, are always in flower; the lily pools, having rows of wild geese as waistbands, always produce lotuses; where the tails of the tame peacocks, their necks upstretched to cry out, are always resplendent; and where the evenings are perpetually moonlit and pleasant, and darkness has been banished; Where the tears of the lords of wealth are of utmost joy, having no other cause, there being no suffering other than that caused by the flower-arrowed god which is to be assuaged by union with the desired one; where there is separation other than that arising from lovers? quarrels; and where there is indeed no age other than youth; Where yakshas, having assembled on the upper terraces of the palace, made of crystal, accompanied by their excellent womenfolk, enjoy ratiphalam wine produced by a wish-fulfilling tree, while drums whose sound resembles your deep thunder are beaten softly; Where the girls fanned by breezes cooled by the waters of the Mandakini river, the heat dispelled by the shade of the mandara trees that grow on its banks, are urges by the gods to play with jewels hidden by burying them with clenched fists in the golden sands and which are to be searched for; Where the handfuls of powder flung by those red-lipped women bewildered by shame when their lovers passionately pull away their linen garments, the ties of which have been loosened and undone by restless hands, although they reach the long-rayed jewel-lamps, they fail to extinguish them; Where ragged clouds, like yourself, brought to the upper stories of the palaces by the leader of the wind, having committed the misdeed of shedding raindrops on a painting, cleverly imitating puffs of smoke, flee immediately by way of the lattices as if filled with dread; Where at night the moonstones, hanging from a web of threads and shedding full drops of water under the influence of moonbeams bright since the removal of your obstruction, dispel the physical langour after sexual enjoyment on the part of the women who are freed from the embraces of their lovers? arms; Where lovers, with inexhaustible treasure their residences, together with the kinnaras who sing with sweet voices of the glory of the lord of wealth, accompanied by celestial courtesans, engage in conversation and enjoy everyday the outer grove known as Vaibhraja; Where at sunrise the route taken by women the previous night is indicated by mandara flowers with torn petals that were shaken from their hair by the movement of their walking, by the golden lotuses that slipped from behind their ears, and by necklaces of strings of pearls the threads of which broke upon their breasts; Where a single wish-fulfilling tree produces every adornment for women: coloured garments, wine which is suitable for introducing an amorous playfulness to the eyes, flowers together with buds which are distinctive among ornaments, and red lac dye suitable for application to their lotus-like feet; Where horses, as dark as leaves, rival the steeds of the sun; where elephants, as tall as mountains, pour forth showers, like you, from the pores of their temples; and where the foremost warriors stood in battle against the ten-faced one, the splendour of their ornmanets surpassed by the scars of the wounds from Candrahasa; Where the god of love does not generally carry his bow strung with bees, knowing that the god who is the friend of the lord of wealth dwells there in person: his task is accomplished by the amorous play of talented women whose glances are cast by means of curved eyebrows and which are not in vain among the objects of their desire. There, to the north of the residence of the lord of wealth, our home is to be recognised from afar by an arched portal as lovely as a rainbow, near which a young mandara tree, caused to bow down by bunches of flowers that may be touched by the hand, is cherished by my beloved like an adopted son. And within is a pool the steps of which are studded with emerald stone, filled