। ॥
In plain words
O Kāmākṣī, afraid of your foot, the young leaf fled into the depths of the forest; but the lotus took refuge with the foot itself, as a line drawn on its sole. Both are fitting for the defeated, O Kāmākṣī: to live abroad, or to seek refuge with the very foe.
Word for word
Of your afraid, of the foot, the sprout to the forest interior went; but, line-formed, the lotus this very one resorted to became; for the defeated, O Kāmākṣī, both indeed are fitting in defeat: abroad living, or refuge-going of one's own enemy.