
One of my yoga teachers has taken to reading poetry during shavasana. I’m not usually into poetry, but maybe my post-yoga stupor has made me a little more receptive. Anyways, twice now I have had to run home and look up the poems she read, because I was so taken with them. I am going to post them both here. (PS – That photo is from the Presidential Palace in Delhi.)
Mahadeviyakka
Sunlight made visible
the whole length of a sky
movements of wind,
leaf, flower, all six colours
on tree, bush and creeper:
all this
is the day’s worship.
The light of the moon, star and fire
lightnings and all things
that go by the name of light
are the night’s worship.
Night and day
in your worship
I forget myself
O lord white as jasmine.
SOMEONE UNTIED YOUR CAMEL
I cannot sit still with my countrymen in chains.
I cannot act mute
Hearing the world’s loneliness
Crying near the Beloved’s heart.
My love for God is such
That I could dance with Him tonight without you,
But I would rather have you there.
Is your caravan lost?
It is,
If you no longer weep from gratitude or happiness,
Or weep
From being cut deep with the awareness
Of the extraordinary beauty
That emanates from the most simple act
And common object.
My dear, is your caravan lost?
It is if you can no longer be kind to yourself
And loving to those who must live
With the sometimes difficult task of loving you.
At least come to know
That someone untied your camel last night
For I hear its gentle voice
Calling for God in the desert.
At least come to know
That Hafiz will always hold a lantern
With the galaxies blooming inside
And that
I will always guide your soul to
The divine warmth and exhilaration
Of our Beloved’s
Tent.
~ Hafiz ~
(The Gift — versions of Hafiz by Daniel Ladinsky)