Page:Folk Tales from Tibet (1906).djvu/219

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SOME VERSES FROM TIBETAN LOVE-SONGS.

A woman sings to a man whose affection for her is waning:

"As a great mountain, with its cooling streams,
Nourishes the little fields far down below,
Do you, my lover, with a stream of love,
Nourish the heart of her who loves you so."

The man replies to the woman:

"When autumn chills destroy the honeyed flowers,
The bees must do without their favourite food;
So when my passion cools, and dies my love,
You should submit to this my changed mood."

A man sings to a woman:

"Up every rocky cliff some path exists,
If one can find a guide to show the way;
So to your heart some avenue must lead,
Teach me, forthwith, that path of love, I pray."

The woman replies:

"Were I inclined to grant this fruit^[1] to you,
The gift were thine—at once to-day,
But oh! I fear that lurking at your back,
Are demons red^[2] to bring me endless sorrow."

1. I.e., her heart. She compares her heart ripe with love to a ripe fruit.
2. Presumably she means the man's passions. She compares them to the terrific demons (red is the angry colour) of Tibetan Lamaist mythology.