In plain words
Save me, O giver of boons! Protect me, O auspicious one!” he cried aloud in prayer. The moment he heard that call, Viṣṇu set out to save Gajendra. But to Lakṣmī, Viṣṇu's behaviour seemed strange. “What is this, where is he going off to in such a hurry? If he means to save someone, he should take his weapons with him!” she thought. She hurried after him to ask where he was going. But she wondered whether her husband would tell her or not. Pōtana described this scene beautifully in this verse:
Meaning to ask him, she sets off very fast; then, thinking that if she asks he will not answer, her steps stop; faltering, fretting and stumbling, she steps forward; does not step forward; steps forward in her daze.
What a great verse he spoke! What a great feeling he set into it! Pōtana did not strive merely to show off his learning, as poets do today. If he had had any such pomp in him, why would he say, “What I speak is the Bhāgavata, the Lord who makes me speak is Rāmabhadra”? Pōtana's word is a bundle of the Vedas; for those who long to cross over, this is the royal road.