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Why Mira Can't Come Back to Her Old House

Mirabai, Mirabai poetry, Yoga / Hindu, Yoga / Hindu poetry, Vaishnava (Krishna/Rama) poetry, [TRADITION SUB2] poetry,  poetry by Mirabai
(1498 - 1565?) Timeline

English version by
Robert Bly

Yoga / Hindu : Vaishnava (Krishna/Rama)
16th Century

The colors of the Dark One have penetrated Mira's body; all the other colors washed out.
Making love with the Dark One and eating little, those are my pearls and my carnelians.
Meditation beads and the forehead streak, those are my scarves and my rings.
That's enough feminine wiles for me. My teacher taught me this.
Approve me or disapprove me: I praise the Mountain Energy night and day.
I take the path that ecstatic human beings have taken for centuries.
I don't steal money, I don't hit anyone. What will you charge me with?
I have felt the swaying of the elephant's shoulders; and now you want me to climb on a jackass? Try to be serious.

 

 

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

Amazon.com

 

Themes

  Lover and Beloved
  Mountain
  Night
 
 


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 >>

 

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Ivan M. Granger's original poetry, stories and commentaries are Copyright © 2002 - 2009 by Ivan M. Granger.
All other material is copyrighted by the respective authors, translators and/or publishers.