Classic Poem

In that place where the huge bulls with their many cows
spread over a spacious grassy field chew their cud in the rich shade
of flowering trees, and the cowherds pluck wild jasmine
from the bushes full of blossoms and small long-eared rabbits
when they are chased with little sticks jump like scabbard fish
in deep water and women with belted hips and braceleted arms
play in the ocean, then leap
into a reservoir, and they gather
waterlilies by the salt pans and their dresses of green leaves sway
densely on the fields . . . . . . . . . . like an ornament
she must steadily continue to grow. Wishing for arduous war
to be joined, she has seized and she has hidden away
the brave hearts of courageous kings,
masters of elephants with ears as large as winnowing fans!