Benares ghats ~
the Ganga washing away
devotees' sins

Forever nameless
Forever unknwon
Forever unconceived
Forever unrepresented
yet forever felt in the soul.

Om jeg før har elsket? — Sandt at sige,
Har jeg altid, troer jeg, giort deslige;
Mange paastaae selv, jeg vidt det drev.
Hvis jeg husker ret, jeg og har noget
Digtet, for at øve mig i Sproget ,
Før jeg Digtene til Nanna skrev.

zhu men jiu rou chou
lu you dong si gu

Behind the gates of the wealthy
food lies rotting from waste
Outside it's the poor
who lie frozen to death

She is so beguiling
That when she beckons
I can run a mile
In twenty seconds.

Before the white chrysanthemum
the scissors hesitate
a moment.


Translated by Robert Hass

834

Before He comes we weigh the Time!
'Tis Heavy and 'tis Light.
When He depart, an Emptiness
Is the prevailing Freight.

Sparrows were feeding in a freezing drizzle
That while you watched turned into pieces of snow
Riding a gradient invisible
From silver aslant to random, white, and slow.

There came a moment that you couldn't tell.
And then they clearly flew instead of fell.

Thy beauty hangs around thee like
Splendour around the moon--
Thy voice, as silver bells that strike
Upon...

Her beauty is the bourne thought cannot pass;
And the angel of the heart's intelligence,
Young Love, might deem that boundary infinite,
So he within the glamour of her eyes,
As in some ether too thin to be weighed,
Might breathe for ever.