Some Songs of Mirabai
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paga bandha ghumgharyam nacyari
Binding my ankles with silver
I danced —
people in town called me crazy.
She'll run the clan
said my mother-in-law,
and the prince
had a cup ofvenom delivered.
I laughed as I drank it.
Can't they see?
Body and mind aren't something to lose,
the Dark One's already seized them.
Mira's lord can lift mountains,
he is her refuge.
mhare dere ajyo
Come to my bedroom,
I've scattered fresh buds on the couch,
perfumed my body.
Birth after birth I am your servant,
sleep only with you.
Mira's lord does not perish —
one glimpse of the Dark One is all she requests.
jagamam jivana thora
Life on this planet is fragile,
why take up a burden?
From mother and father
come birth,
but from the font of creation comes karma.
People waste life,
heaping up merit like they're buying and selling —
it's pointless.
I sing out the raptures
of Hari, go into passions with sadhus,
nothing disturbs me.
Mira says — it's your power Dark One,
but it's me who crosses
the limits.
nenam lobham atakam
Wolfish eyes fixed on the Dark One,
hungry, restless,
scouring every inch of his body.
When he came into view
smiling faintly,
lit up with moonlight.
I nearly collapsed by the door.
My family speaks of their plans
to restrain me
but my eyes flash through every obstruction.
Don't they know somebody's claimed me?
I lift to my forehead
every word uttered,
some ugly, some tender —
without the Dark one's approval
nothing survives.
kina sang khelum holi
Terrible solitude
festival day
now that he's gone.
Damn these rubies and pearls,
I'll string devotional beads
at my throat.
And here's an old hermit cloak —
now that fod and house
are distasteful
it matches my feelings.
What makes me like this?
It's a riddle.
You take me to bed
then go off and fuck
some other girl.
Does she have you under her spell
that you can't even write me?
Mira'sa bundle of nerves in your absence.
Look at her,
an unwatered weed when the
Dark One's away,
she wilts in the rubble.
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Songs of Mirabai
translated by Andrew Schelling
White Pine Press, 2024
COMPANION FOR THE JOURNEY VOLUME 31
