āratī śrī rādhā kṛṣṇa jī kī

An aarti written for voices, and the text marks which: every line carries its own tag, so the first is sung for Radha, the second for Krishna, and the third for the two of them together, each stanza closing on salutation to Radha-Krishna. The pairing is exact every time. Moon-faced, restless, stealer of the heart — then handsome, dark, innocent of face — then Shyama and Shyam, one matched pair. The five-coloured chunari and the saffron bed against the yellow silk and the dark blanket, and then one form, one incomparable image. The third stanza does it by sound rather than sense, the moonlight glittering, the peacock crown flashing and the juice of their love shimmering, on three chiming words. The last asks for the crossing and for release.