Poetry Chaikhana
Sacred Poetry from Around the World

Yoga / Hindu : Vaishnava (Krishna/Rama)

16th Century

About Mirabai

Timeline (1498 - 1565?)

Mirabai, Mirabai poetry, Yoga / Hindu, Yoga / Hindu poetry, Vaishnava (Krishna/Rama) poetry, [TRADITION SUB2] poetry, poetry

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English version by
Robert Bly

The Heat of Midnight Tears

Themes

Birth, Rebirth

Fire

Heart

Monkey

Mountain

Recommended Books

	The Enlightened Heart: An Anthology of Sacred Poetry, by Stephen Mitchell
	For Love of the Dark One: Songs of Mirabai, Translated by Andrew Schelling
	Holy Fire: Nine Visionary Poets and the Quest for Enlightenment, Edited by Daniel Halpern
	Love Poems from God: Twelve Sacred Voices from the East and West, Translated by Daniel Ladinsky
	Mirabai: Ecstatic Poems, Translated by Robert Bly

More >>

Listen, my friend, this road is the heart opening,
Kissing his feet, resistance broken, tears all night.

If we could reach the Lord through immersion in water,
I would have asked to be born a fish in this life.
If we could reach Him through nothing but berries and wild nuts,
Then surely the saints would have been monkeys when they came from the womb!
If we could reach him by munching lettuce and dry leaves,
Then the goats would surely go to the Holy One before us!

If the worship of stone statues could bring us all the way,
I would have adored a granite mountain years ago.

Mirabai says: The heat of midnight tears will bring you to God.

-- from The Winged Energy of Delight, Translated by Robert Bly

Amazon.com

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Poetry Chaikhana Sacred Poetry from Around the World

About Mirabai

Poetry Chaikhana
Sacred Poetry from Around the World