‘Do not go’, I could say; but this is inauspicious.
‘All right, go’ is a loveless thing to say.
‘Stay with me’ is imperious’. ‘Do as you wish’ suggests
cold indifference. And if I say ‘I’ll die
when you are gone’, you might or might not believe me.
Teach me, my husband, what I ought to say
When you go away.

– Bhartrahari, translated from Sanskrit by John Brough. Images for the GIF from Merchant Ivory’s ‘The Householder’, starring Shashi Kapoor and Leela Naidu.