Poetry Chaikhana
Sacred Poetry from Around the World

About Ramprasad

Timeline (1718? - 1775?)

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Original Language
Bengali

This time I shall devour Thee utterly, Mother Kali!

Themes

Birth, Rebirth

Death

Heart

Recommended Books

	Devoted to the Goddess : The Life and Work of Ramprasad, by Malcolm Mclean
	The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, by M. (Sri Mahendra Gupta) / Translated by Swami Nikhilananda
	Grace and Mercy in Her Wild Hair: Ramprasad Sen - Selected Poems to the Mother Goddess, Translated by Leonard Nathan / Clinton Seely
	Great Swan: Meetings with Ramakrishna, by Lex Hixon
	Kali: The Black Goddess of Dakshineswar, by Elizabeth U. Harding

More >>

This time I shall devour Thee utterly, Mother Kali!
For I was born under an evil star,
And one so born becomes, they say, the eater of his mother.
Thou must devour me first, or I myself shall eat Thee up;
One or the other it must be.

I shall besmear my hands with black
and with black my face;
With black I shall besmear the whole of my body.
And when Death seizes me,
with black I shall besmear his face.

O Mother, I shall eat Thee up
but not digest Thee;
I shall install Thee in my heart
And make Thee offerings with my mind.
You may say that by eating Kali
I shall embroil myself
with Kala, Her Husband,
but I am not afraid;
Braving His anger,
I shall chant my Mother's name.
Come what may, I shall eat Thee up —
Thee and Thy retinue —
Or lose my life attempting it.

-- from Kali: The Black Goddess of Dakshineswar, by Elizabeth U. Harding

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Poetry Chaikhana Sacred Poetry from Around the World

About Ramprasad

Poetry Chaikhana
Sacred Poetry from Around the World