The River God's Daughter

Beware when you cast your net late at night

When the breeze is soft and the moon is bright

When silver ripples shake the dark water

O, do not look on the river god’s daughter

~

Go quickly to the temple in the moonlit glade

Where jeweled nagas climb down the balustrade

Go in and light an incense stick there

And kneel and press your hands in prayer

~

And hope it is she who takes his wrath

For longing to walk on a human path

Let her walk in her loneliness by the water

O, never pity a river god’s daughter