Quotes from I, Lalla

I, Lalla: The Poems of Lal Ded

Translated from the Kashmiri with an introduction and notes by Ranjit Hoskote

Penguin Books, New Delhi, India     © 2011     328 pp.


One shrine to the next, the hermit can't stop for breath.
Soul, get this! You should have looked in the mirror.
Going on a pilgrimage is like falling in love
with the greenness of faraway grass.


I burned up the landscape with footprints, looked for
him everywhere.
Then it hit me: What am I thinking, He's everywhere!
Lalla distilled this truth from a hundred pieces of talk.
Now hear this, people, and go mad!


Shiva or Keshava or the Enlightened One or the Lotus-Born,
whatever he calls Himself,
I just wish He'd cure this poor woman of life,
be He He or He or He or He.


I'm towing my boat across the ocean with a thread.
Will He hear me and help me across?
Or am I seeping away like water from a half-baked cup?
Wander, my poor soul, you're not going home anytime soon.


Gently, gently I weep for you, my soul.
You've lost your heart to Mr. Illusion.
You've forgotten who you are. And this iron anchor,
not even its shadow will remain behind when the time comes.

(pp. 3-7)

-- submitted by Jennifer Knight