Analysis of Friend, Wake Up! Why Do You Go On Sleeping?

Kabir 1440 (Banaras) – 1518 (Maghar)



Friend, wake up! Why do you go on sleeping?
The night is over— do you want to lose the day
      the same way?
Other women who managed to get up early have
      already found an elephant or a jewel...
so much was lost already while you slept...
and that was so unnecessary!

The one who loves you understood, but you did not.
You forgot to make a place in your bed next to you.
Instead you spent your life playing.
In your twenties you did not grow
because you did not know who your Lord was.
Wake up! Wake up! There's no one in your bed—
He left you during the long night.

Kabir says: The only woman awake is the woman
      who has heard the flute!


Scheme ABBXXXX XXAXXXX XX
Poetic Form
Metre 1111111110 011101111101 011 1010110111101 010111001010 1111010111 01110100 01111011111 1011101011111 01111110 01101111 0111111111 1111111011 11110011 1101010011010 11101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 650
Words 129
Sentences 15
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 7, 7, 2
Lines Amount 16
Letters per line (avg) 30
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 161
Words per stanza (avg) 42
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

39 sec read
91

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…

All Kabir poems | Kabir Books

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