The Heat of Midnight Tears

Mirabai 1498 (Kudki, Pali district, Jodhpur State) – 1556 (Dwaraka)



Listen, my friend, this road is the heart opening,
Kissing his feet, resistance broken, tears all night.

If we could reach the Lord through immersion in water,
I would have asked to be born a fish in this life.
If we could reach Him through nothing but berries and wild nuts,
Then surely the saints would have been monkeys when they came from the womb!
If we could reach him by munching lettuce and dry leaves,
Then the goats would surely go to the Holy One before us!

If the worship of stone statues could bring us all the way,
I would have adored a granite mountain years ago.

Mirabai says: The heat of midnight tears will bring you to God.

[Translated by Robert Bly]

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

38 sec read
61

Quick analysis:

Scheme XX XXXXXX XX X X
Closest metre Iambic heptameter
Characters 666
Words 127
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 2, 6, 2, 1, 1

Mirabai

Mirabai was a 16th-century Hindu mystic poet and devotee of Lord Krishna. more…

All Mirabai poems | Mirabai Books

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