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from I, Lalla - Poems of Lal Ded translated
from the Kashmiri by Ranjit Hoskote
I saw a sage starving to death,
a leaf floating to earth on a winter breeze.
I saw a fool beating his cook.
And now I am waiting for someone to cut
the love-cord that keeps me tied to this crazy world.
My soul is an elephant, an elephant that trumpets for food
every hour on the hour.
Out of a thousand, out of a hundred thousand, only one survives.
Thank God, or they'd have trampled all creation,
these hungry tuskers.
Now I see a flowing stream,
now a flood that's drowned all bridges,
now I see a bush flaming with flowers,
now a skeleton of twigs.
Now I see a blazing hearth,
now neither smoke nor fire,
now I see the mother of five princes,
now just the aunt of the potter's wife.
I, Lalla - Poems of Lal Ded
"Perform good deeds and observe spiritual discipline.
Fool, listen with gratitude.
Lovers fasten your sandals. The fool's youth slipped away unnoticed."