Why do the Lotus lilies glisten.
Answers
Mother mine, to the wild forest I am going,Where upon the champa boughs the champa buds are blowing;To the Koil-haunted river-isles where lotus lilies glisten,The voices of fairy-folk are calling me: O listen!
Sarojini Naidu's poem, “Village-song" depicts the mindframe of a mother, who values tradition, and her daughter, who favours freedom.
Set on the wedding day of the bride who is adorned with jewels and the attire loomed with saffron and silver glowing, the bride seems to be indifferent to the new life she is obliged to have. The distraughted mother inquired her if she would leave the mother who had nourished her and dissapoint the groom who is about to wed her.
The bride, who responds with childlike simplicity, speaks of fleeing into the wild forest where the champa buds from a branch of the tree is blowing to the river islands of water lilies where the koil dwell. She also seems to be evoked by the call of the fairy folks in the wild.
In the third stanza, her mother exemplifies the pleasures of the bridal song, the cradle song and the sandal scented leisure. She appears to distract her daughter by expressing her concerns about the bridal robe and the cake on the hearth.
The daughter, who is unaffected, replies that the bridal songs and cradle songs have cadences of sorrow and that all joys are transitory. She is intrigued by the charm of the nature where, in the end, she realize the fact that she cannot stay for the fairy folks are calling!