ശ്രീ കൃഷ്ണലഹരീ സ്തോത്രമ്

Eight verses by Vasudevananda Sarasvati, every one of them opening on the same word — when? — and closing on the same line: crying out be gracious, I shall pass my days as though they were a moment. What is asked for each time is a sight. When, in the Vrinda forest on the broad sand of the Yamuna, walking with Haladhara and Sudama; when, on banks printed with Hari's footmarks, remembering the lotus-eyed lord of the gopis; sometime playing near Vraja with the cowherds' sons; sometime standing among the gopis and dancing there like an actor; sometime under the kadamba on the Kalindi's bank, smiling meaningfully, the clothes taken. The seventh leaves Vraja altogether for the forest of the Mahabharata, where he calls the prince Partha, friend, kinsman. The eighth asks it plainly at last: when shall I see the whole and spotless Person?