Swami Vivekananda                           

Of Gouri and Shankar in a single form

(Free translation by Swami Vivekananda)

On one side grows the hair in long black curls, And on the other, corded like rope

On one side are seen the beautiful garlands,

On the other, bone earrings and

snake-like coils.

One side is white with ashes, like

the snow mountains,

The other, golden as the light of
dawn.

For He, the Lord, took a form,

And that was a divided form,
Half-woman and half-man."

(Notes of some wanderings with the Swami Vivekananda by Sister Nivedita)