O my friends, what can you tell me of Love,
Whose pathways are filled with strangeness?
When you offer the Great One your love,
At the first step your body is crushed.
Next be ready to offer your head as his seat.
Be ready to orbit his lamp like a moth giving in to the flame,
To be like the deer as she runs toward the hunter’s call,
Like the bird that swallows hot coals for love of the moon,
Like the fish that, kept from the sea, happily dies.
Like a bee trapped for life in the closing of the sweet flower.
Mira has offered herself to her Lord.
She says, the single Lotus will swallow you whole.
– Meerabai
Translated by Jane Hirshfield
Tagged: imagery, Jane Hirshfield, love poetry, Meerabai, Shyam, translation
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[…] ageing and longing. We’ve run a poem by Mirabai translated by Jane Hirshfield on this site, What Can You Tell Me Of Love? You can read about her here. You can hear her read out some of her poetry here and here. You can […]