The monkeys are in among the mangoes.

As for the lovely one, she is emerging from

Under the trees, the trees laden with mangoes

And monkeys.  She’s ambling out of the grove

Bearing the nail marks left by the man who

Meets her approval.  Yes, they’re clearly there,

As if engraved on cheek and shoulder.

One monkey bolder than his brothers

Pulls at her wrap.  Perhaps he confuses

Her breasts for the ripened fruit he adores.

He wants to climb all the way up her,

But all he has done is expose her.

Swatting him as if he were a fly,

She’s rid of the pest, for just

As the first fly contains the seeds of all

The flies to come, were it not for her whisk,

So the first monkey you allow, letting him

Climb your leg to get at your mangoes,

Contains the desires of all the inappropriate

Fellows who would feast on you.

Note that this celestial girl

Is tall as a tree herself, and that a princess

Shelters beneath her, a bit in her shade,

As if protected by an elder sister.

Celestial beauty from Khajuraho, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

See also “Shiva and my Songs of Realisation”.