India's Love Lyrics

To the Unattainable:

   Lament of Mahomed Akram

   I would have taken Golden Stars from the sky for your necklace,
   I would have shaken rose-leaves for your rest from all the rose-trees.

   But you had no need; the short sweet grass sufficed for your slumber,
   And you took no heed of such trifles as gold or a necklace.

   There is an hour, at twilight, too heavy with memory.
   There is a flower that I fear, for your hair had its fragrance.

   I would have squandered Youth for you, and its hope and its promise,
   Before you wandered, careless, away from my useless passion.

   But what is the use of my speech, since I know of no words to recall you?
   I am praying that Time may teach, you, your Cruelty, me, Forgetfulness.