Some Beautiful Young Women (Kalidasa)

Some beautiful young
women fully fulfilled after
making love, still feel the

rushes rising in their thighs
and reaching up their groins.
These women dip

themselves in oils
and massage themselves,
sitting in the morning sun.

They let off the surges
still persisting after having
made love.

Note: Original is in Sanskrit. This translation
is based on a prose translation of Coming of Winter,
Verse 17 in The Ritusamhara of Kalidasa.

Be Gentle and Slow (Kabir)

Be gentle and slow, O my mind
Everything happens slowly

A gardener might squander
A hundred buckets of water


But the plants will bear
Fruit, only in the season.

Note: The original is in Hindi

(via sulekha)

Krishna Appears Darker (Mirabai)

I hear a note from a
flute coming down the
river. O my enchanted
heart! what doubts the flute
player has not yet
calmed in your mind?


In dark trousers near the
dark Jamuna waters,
Krishna appears darker
than ever before.
A single note from his
flute makes me lose my
mind. I stumble and ask
to be free of these
torments of mine.

Note: The original song is in Hindi.

(via sulekha)

To Be A Woman (Blaga Dimitrova)

It hurts to be a woman.
It pains when she becomes
A girl, a beloved, a mother.

But the most unbearable
suffering on the earth is
of a woman who does not
know these sufferings.

Note: This is based on another English translation
of a Bulgarian Poem by Blaga Dimitrova here

~Ravi
(via sulekha)

Nostalgia (Fernando Pessoa)

Life, an experiential journey taken involuntarily
the spirit travels feeling the world
sitting in my chair, contemplating
I see the world vicariously

I’ve lived without ever having lived
I’ve thought without ever having thought
I’ve danced without ever having danced
taking stillborn adventures calmly

I am sick of what I never had
or likely will ever have
I am sick of gods
always just about to appear

My body bears the wounds
of battles never fought
my muscles are weary
of efforts never wrought

Great unknown lassitude
engulfs me today
I suppress my helpless tears
born of my sick soul

I look at the sky
dull, dumb and empty
as it never ever existed
or will never be there

I sleep when I think
I lie down when I walk
I suffer feeling nothing
my suffering is for nothing

My nostalgia is for nothing
like the sky above
that I do not see
but gaze at impersonally.
***

Note: This is based on Fernando Pessoa’s prose in ‘Livro do Desassossego’
translated from Portuguese into English by Margaret Jull Costa,
p 74-75, Serpent's Tail, London, 1991.

~Ravi
(via sulekha)

Watching the Beautiful Moon He Mused

Near the mountains
far off the city, the Zen
master lived a
humble life in a
plain hut.

A thief sneaked in
when he was away one day.
He searched and searched
but found nothing of value.

Seeing the master returning,
in panic he was fleeing.
"Wait," he heard
"A long way you came,
you will not go empty
handed."

Undressing himself he
gave the thief his clothes
and sat on the floor naked.
Watching the beautiful
moon he mused:
'Poor fella, I wish
I could give him the moon.'

Note: This is a rendering of a story
in Zen Flesh, Zen Bones, p 27, Tuttle
Publishing, Boston, 1998.

~Ravi
(via sulekha)

The Marriage of the Bourgeois

He plays the part of a bridegroom
She to lose his head
They’ll live under the same roof
Until their house falls
Until their house falls

He is a discreet employee
She puts starch on his collars
They’ll live under the same roof
Until they explode the nest
Until they explode the nest

He plays the part of a restless virile man
She makes the children in heaps
They’ll live under the same roof
Until the fountain goes dry
Until the fountain goes dry

He is a full-time employee
She learns how to make candles
They’ll live under the same roof
Until they burn down each other
Until they burn down each other

He has a secret affair
She says she won’t be unfaithful
They’ll live under the same roof
Until they marry their offspring
Until they marry their offspring

He talks of potassium cyanide
She dreams of poisons
They’ll live under the same roof
Until one of them decides
Until one of the decides

He has an old project
She has a mountain of outlets
They’ll live under the same roof
Until the days come to an end
Until the days come to an end

Sometimes he shows her affection
She undresses herself in the dark
They’ll live under the same roof
Until a brief time in the future
Until a brief time in the future

She warms up the grandson’s porridge
He has amassed a fortune
They’ll live under the same roof
Until they are united in death
Until they are united in death

~Ravi
(via sulekha)