Young Narayana (Translation) Poem by Erhard Hans Josef Lang

The beauteous dusk-hued god,
one morning,
was in repose
within the softly swaying sea,
upon a leaf of sea-lily,
nearby the wall of heaven.

He made a flute pipe out of reed and played on it.
The melodies were dropping into the sea
like perfumed, clear dew drops.
And the sea started to cast bubbles all around, .
And from each foaming bubble
sprang up a bloom of sea-lily.
And bees were bringing honey
to the god's lips
from the chalices of the flowers.

And Narayana looked out across the whole sea
with dreaming eyes that comprehended the worlds.
And he saw on a farthest island of corals,
nearby the opposite wall of heaven on the other side
the lovely daughter of the sea,
playing with her hair.

Narayana called out.
And the goddess arrived with the spirits of the wind.
And the young dusk-hued god
made love to the white-flamed daughter of
the sea and wind
with a passion beyond measure.
And the love-making of the gods raised a storm in the sea.
And the waves threw foaming pearls up into the air,
up to heaven's dome.

In the end, Narayana became tired of making love.
And the goddess vanished, way down
into lap of the spirits of the sea.
And her golden diadem was glistening in the sea, for long.

And Narayana took repose on a leave of sea-lily,
his limbs all exhausted.
Then he dipped his left foot into the water.
And countless small fish of gold
were hopping over Narayana's ankle,
drawing a gleaming, wonderful rainbow
against heaven's wall bluer than blue;
which came to rise up from the sea, quite nearby.

And Narayana again surveyed the sea.
Now he observed all these souls of sea-men,
that he negligently had sacrificed
due to his young love.
And the beauteous lovable god felt sad about them
and took them all up from the deep of the sea's bottom
and put them into new frame
and sent them back into life.

The sun sank in the sea
and stars began glittering in heaven's dome.
Narayana picked some of these out,
until his right hand was filled with them,
and he let them slip through his fingers,
dropping them one by one into the sea,
where they shone like the eyes of the daughter of the sea.

And the young tired god dreamfully
watched the sinking of the stars,
until he fell asleep on a leaf of sea-lily,
nearby the wall of heaven.