Let's get Flirty

Teav: You compare me to a flower,

While you are like a bumble bee

That flies around and spots the flower and enters straight away.

Afterwards, it doesn’t delay and is soon on its way again.

Tum: I am like the lion king,

While Miss Teav is like a large cave.

If the lion king has a place to live,

He will never allow himself to leave.

Teav: I am like a dock,

While you, so charming, are like a boat.

You are quick to park a while, precious one,

Then hurry away without a second thought.

Tum: Oh, I am like a large fish,

While you, young Teav, are like a river.

The fish that has large water swims leisurely from side to side.

Don’t dear! Don’t reject me or be suspicious.

Teav: I am like a tree,

While you are like a sarika bird that perches there every day.

You stop to perch and take shelter,

Then fly off at great speed to go to some other place.

Tum: I am like a tiger,

While you, dear, are like the jungle.

Usually a tiger doesn’t turn away quickly.

He avoids leaving behind his precious forest.

Teav: I am like a tree trunk used as a hive,

While you, handsome sir, are like the bees

That come there to live and fly off one day,

Leaving the tree trunk defiled and useless.

Tum: I am like an elephant,

While you, young lady, are like sugar cane.

Once the elephant tastes the sweetness, he never goes

Far from the sugar cane, dear.

Teav: Oh, dear sir!

Who would not be suspicious

Of the words of a man trying to show off his intelligence?

So don’t tell me not to be suspicious.

As Teav spoke wisely,

Tum had no fear at all. He grabbed Teav’s hand

And kissed her and says, “Oh, my dear,

Do you still doubt me? Do you still not believe how I feel?”

Stanzas 414-423 of Tum Teav (1915) by Venerable Botumthera Som, English translation by George Chigas