Wednesday, January 02, 2019
from "Turn Me to Gold––108 Poems of Kabir" from Andrew Harvey
from "Turn Me to Gold: 108 Poems of Kabir" from Andrew Harvey
There is a bird on this body tree
That dances in the ecstasy of life.
No one knows where it is,
And who could ever know
What its music means?
It nests where branches cast deep shadow;
It comes in the dusk and flies away at dawn
And never says a word of what it intends.
No one can tell me anything
About this bird that sings in my blood.
It isn’t colored or colorless;
It doesn’t have a form or outline;
It sits always in the shadow of love.
It lives within the Unreachable, the Boundless, the Eternal
And no one can tell when it comes or when it goes.
Kabir says, “Fellow seeker,
The mystery of this bird
Is marvelous and profound.
Be wise; struggle to know
Where this bird comes to rest.”
Wherever you go looking for Me
I’m already always by your side
I’m not in sacred places
I’m not in temple idols
I’m not in solitary retreats
I’m already always by your side.
I’m not in temples or mosques
I’m not in the Kaaba, not in Kailash
I’m already always by your side.
I’m not in austerities, not in meditation,
Not in feasts, not in fasts
Not in rituals laid down in sacred texts
Not in yogic exercises—
Look for Me with passionate sincerity
I’ll be beside you immediately.
Kabir says: seeker, listen to Me—
Where your deepest faith is, I am.
Between the posts of “conscious” and “unconscious”
The mind has strung a swing:
On it hangs all beings, all worlds
And it never stops swaying.
Millions of beings sit on it
And the sun and moon also,
Millions of eras come and go
But the swing remains.
Everything swings!
Sky and earth, air and water
And the Beloved Himself
As He comes into form—
Seeing this
Has made Kabir a servant.
Note: This volume of translations from Andrew Harvey is a gorgeous book, both in content and appearance. It includes moving images from India as an accompaniment to the poems. Kabir distills the essence of spirituality in poetic form. Strongly recommended.
