to share the warmth

A ray is caught in a bowl, 

And the cat licks it, thinking that it's milk; 

Another threads its way through tree-branches, 

And the elephant thinks he has found a lotus-stalk. 

Half asleep, a girl reaches out 

And tries to rearrange the moonbeams on the bed 

To share the warmth. 

    It is the moon that is drunk with its own light, 

    But the world that is confused. 

 

[Sudraka {c.200 B.C.}, 'Moon Milk', translated from the Sanskrit by John Brough, in Eat, Drink, and be Merry: Poems about food and drink from Everyman’s Library Pocket Poets]