People, male and female,

by Akka Mahadevi

English version by A. K. Ramanujan
Original Language Kannada

People,
male and female,
blush when a cloth covering their shame
comes loose
               When the lord of lives
lives drowned without a face
in the world, how can you be modest?

When all the world is the eye of the lord,
onlooking everywhere, what can you
cover and conceal?

-- from Speaking of Siva, by A K Ramanujan

<<Previous Poem | More Poems by Akka Mahadevi | Next Poem >>


View All Poems by Akka Mahadevi








People, male and