Sanskrit Messenger poems evoke the pain of separated sweethearts through the formula of an estranged lover pleading with a messenger to take a message to his or her beloved. The plea includes a lyrical description of the route the messenger will take and the message itself. The first was the “Cloud Messenger,” composed by Sanskrit’s finest poet, Kalidasa, in the fifth century CE. The next was its imitator, the “Wind Messenger,” composed in praise of King Lákshmanasena of Gauda (Bengal) in the twelfth century by Dhoyi, one of his court poets. Numerous more followed, including the third in the CSL selection, the sixteenth-century “Swan Messenger,” composed in Bengal by Rupa Gosvámin, a devotee of Krishna.