Mahfil, vol. 1, no. 2 26 5. The creeper of separation was planted in my eyes. They water it, friend, and its roots have gone deep,, It grows in its ways; it casts thick shadows now. How can I leave it — it has spread all through mee, Who knows what it wants ~ it is always new. The ^opis complain that Shyam is gone, and this has cankered the bud of love. 6. He loved me, and then put a knife to my throat, Like a trapper who feeds a bird grain to hurt it. The snare, the birdlimed twig, was his flute, And the moon of his peacock-feather crown, the neto Greedy, caught in his side-long glance, I ate, and had no chance to spread my wings. He left me fluttering without a second thought. Hari is like the wish-tree, but I wo^t settle there after this. COWARDICE (Kayarta) ^7 Bhagwati Charan Varma Introduction: The translator has provided the following information about Mro Varma. Bhagwati Charan Varma was born August 50, 1905, the son of a lawyer, and completed his law degree at the University of Allahabad, though he says that formal studies have always meant little to him. His first poetry, of a patriotic nature, was published in 1918, and his first novel in 1928. He has now published some nine novels, the most famous of them Chitralekha^ which has sold some 150,000 copies since its publication in 195^«» The novel was inspired by Anatole France's Thais and deals, as does Thais^ with what may happen to an ascetic "good" man when confronted with a worldly "evil" woman, Varma worked for some time writing for movies and the radio, but now lives