Brother, I've Seen Some

Kabir 1440 (Banaras) – 1518 (Maghar)



Brother, I've seen some
     Astonishing sights:
A lion keeping watch
     Over pasturing cows;
A mother delivered
     After her son was;
A guru prostrated
     Before his disciple;
Fish spawning
     On treetops;               
A cat carrying away
     A dog;
A gunny-sack
     Driving a bullock-cart;
A buffalo going out to graze,
     Sitting on a horse;
A tree with its branches in the earth,
     Its roots in the sky;
A tree with flowering roots.

This verse, says Kabir,
     Is your key to the universe.
If you can figure it out.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 14, 2023

26 sec read
175

Quick analysis:

Scheme XXXXAXAXXXXXXXXXXXX XXX
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 531
Words 87
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 19, 3

Kabir

Kabīr was a mystic poet and saint of India, whose writings have greatly influenced the Bhakti movement. The name Kabir comes from Arabic al-Kabīr which means 'The Great' – the 37th name of God in Islam. Kabir's legacy is today carried forward by the Kabir Panth, a religious community that recognizes him as its founder and is one of the Sant Mat sects. Its members, known as Kabir panthis, are estimated to be around 9,600,000. They are spread over north and central India, as well as dispersed with the Indian diaspora across the world, up from 843,171 in the 1901 census. His writings include Bijak, Sakhi Granth, Kabir Granthawali and Anurag Sagar. more…

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