poems from lalla

[desmond dillon]

  

                   I Searched for Myself

 I searched for myself until i grew weary

 but no one, i know now,

 reaches the hidden Knowledge 

 by means of effort. 

 

 then absorbed in 'Thou art This'

 i found the place of Wine.

 there all the jars are filled 

 but no one is left to drink.

  (trans. by Coleman Barks)

                 ****

                         Fool 

 fool you won't find your way out by praying from a book.  

 the perfume on your carcass won't give you a clue.

 focus on the Self, that's the best advice you can get.

                      Drifter 

 drifter, on your feet, get moving.

 you still have time, look for the Friend.

 make yourself wings, take wing and fly.

 you still have time, go look for the Friend.

  

 charge your bellows with breath 

 like the blacksmith taught you.

 that's how you turn your iron to gold.

 you still have time, go look for the Friend.

         (trans. by Ranjit Hoskote)

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[janice wilson]

thanks for sharing desmond

real n sweet

[desmond dillon]

Lalla Ded was born in Kashmir near Srinagar in the 14th Cent. Her poems she sang in the villages she travelled thru..  she is remembered with a great affection by both Muslims and Hindus in the divided land.. she practised within a recognized Hindu tradition dedicated to Shiva and it is said today that only two words have meaning in Kashmir... Allah and Lalla.

[Eva Libre]

Known as Laleshwari in other parts of the subcontinent, she was a Kashmiri mystic of the Kashmir Shaivism School of Philosophy. She was the creator of the style of mystical poetry called Vatsun or Vakhs, literally "language".