The Lord of the Night, the Moon, felt lonely
so the Lord of Creation bestowed upon him
twenty-eight maidens to keep him company –
twenty-eight maidens called constellations
who filled the space of the sky and started
dancing across with the Moon wandering
from one to the other, watching them with
great delight
The most beautiful had a reddish star on her
shoulder called Aldebaran, he stayed longest
with her, asked her name like a young man in
love, “Rohini”came the reply, he made her his
wife, made the other constellations jealous –
the Lord of Creation put a curse on the Moon:
For two weeks the Moon has wasting disease,
sinks into the holy river restoring him
Then appearing again growing stronger until
he is as fresh and full-grown as before – the
alternating sickness reminds the Moon how
to behave to the heavenly dancers, now he
spends a night with each, with twenty-eight
he just completes his round in a month…
Oh, faithless Moon! Don’t you see how the
lovely Rohini is mourning for you; there is
just one consolation for the unhappy star;
she has become the guardian
of all lovers on earth…
Quotations from “The Moon and Lovely Rohini” appearing in “At the End of the Rainbow” – Legends of the Sun, Moon and Stars, Orbis Publishing 1984, pp.51-55.
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
Oe Magriet! Jy is soooooo slim!