Friend, without that Dark raptor
Friend, without that Dark raptor
I could not survive.
Mother-in-law shrills at me,
her daughter sneers,
the prince stumbles about in a permanent fury.
Now they've bolted my door
and mounted a guard.
But who could abandon a love
developed through uncounted lifetimes?
The Dark One is Mirabai's lord,
who else could
slake her desire?
[Translated by Andrew Schelling]
Related quotes
Out in a Downpour
Out in a downpour
in a sopping wet
skirt.
And you have gone to a distant country.
Unbearable heart,
letter after letter
just asking when,
my lord, when
are you coming?
[Translated by Andrew Schelling]
It's True I Went To The Market
My friend, I went to the market and bought the Dark One.
You claim by night, I claim by day.
Actually I was beating a drum all the time I was buying him.
You say I gave too much; I say too little.
Actually, I put him on a scale before I bought him.
What I paid was my social body, my town body, my family body, and all my inherited jewels.
Mirabai says: The Dark One is my husband now.
Be with me when I lie down; you promised me this in an earlier life.
[Translated by Robert Bly]
No one knows my invisible life
No one knows my invisible life.
Pain
and madness for Rama.
Our wedding bed is high up
in the gallows.
Meet him?
If the dark healer comes,
we'll negotiate the hurt.
I love the man who takes care
of cows. The cowherd.
Cowherd and dancer.
My eyes are drunk,
worn out from making love
with him. We are one.
I am now his dark color.
People notice me, point fingers at me.
They see my desire,
since I'm walking about like a lunatic.
I'm wiped out, gone.
Yet no one knows I live with my prince,
the cowherd.
The palace can't contain me.
I leave it behind.
I couldn't care less about gossip
or my royal name.
I'll be with him
in all his gardens.
[Translated by Willis Barnstone]
O I saw witchcraft tonight
O I saw witchcraft tonight
in the region of Braj.
A milking girl going her rounds,
a pot on her head,
came face to face with the Dark One.
My friend, she is babbling,
can no longer say "buttermilk."
- Come get the Dark One, the Dark One!
A pot full of Shyam! -
In the overgrown lanes
of Vrindavan forest
the Enchanter of Hearts fixed his
eye on this girl,
then departed.
Mira's lord is hot, lovely
and raven -
tonight she saw witchcraft
at Braj.
[Translated by Robert Bly]
The Dark and Me
Im lost in my own dark little world,
it has four walls,
a window,
& a door,
Its forever 3am and sleep escapes me once more,
Im doomed to lie here,
with only my conscious as comfort,
& the dark as my friend,
Only i know whats said in the dark,
whats done in the dark,
Im left to myself in the dark,
The sandman,
he is no saviour,
for he has not come tonight,
now i must seek the safety of day,
of light,
Only hell is alike,
with purgatory for dessert,
I can only hope,
for sweet somnium,
Tonight...
poem by Andrew Rose
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Dark Friend, what can I say?
Dark Friend, what can I say?
This love I bring
from distant lifetimes is ancient,
do not revile it.
Seeing your elegant body
I am ravished.
Visit our courtyard, hear the women
singing old hymns
On the square I've laid
out a welcome of teardrops,
body and mind I surrendered ages ago,
taking refuge
wherever your feet pass.
Mira flees from lifetime to lifetime,
your virgin.
Dark and Light
Here where I live it is dark.
Abide within and it is dark.
Sinister beings dwell in the dark.
Seeing is not possible in the dark.
They are Dark.
Cavort about in the dark.
Come and surround in the dark.
Laugh and howl in the dark.
See them not, hear them yet, here in the dark.
They are Dark.
Not always do I live in the dark.
Comes a time without the dark.
Sinister beings exists in the dark.
Cannot survive without the dark.
They are Dark
When it is not dark,
And it is not always dark.
Beings of warmth pierce the dark.
Crack and splinter the dark.
They are Light.
Then sometimes I live in the light
Warm and safe in the light
Want to stay in the light.
Surrounded by life and love in the light.
They are Light
Sometimes light, sometimes dark.
In one world, than in the other.
In one, fear; love in the other.
Back and Forth, Light and Dark
I am Dark! I am Light!
poem by Jeff Manion
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Mother To Mother
Mother to daughter, mother to mother
A greater love, there is no other.
You looked towards me for your guidance and my love
But this was given to both of us
From the lord up above.
I protected and sheltered you the best that I could.
And you followed the same road that we all take
We did not stop or hesitate.
A mother is not one who just gives birth
But one who shows her worth.
I was her mother, she was my daughter
Everything according to GODS order.
I raised mine, she raised her own.
But the love we had was always shown.
She was like the sun bringing light into this world
For she was my little girl.
She was like the sun radiating beauty from
The inside out, of that I have no doubt.
As the sun brings a smile to your face
And leaves you with a glow inside.
She could do this, and that’s no lie.
She created life, and loved them with such tender care
And the joys and sorrows, with them she’d share.
She loved and honored her children in every way she could
And raised them the way a mother should.
She was closer to me, more than anyone could ever know
And put in me a strength that would grow.
When it was the time for the LORD to take her away
And I’m sure that she wanted to stay.
She gave her soul to our lord above
But left us with an enduring love.
So to my daughter I say to you, I loved you at your birth
And I loved you till the end, for you was
not only my daughter, but my friend.
mother to mother, I thank you with all my heart and soul
For you left me with beautiful children for me to hold.
poem by Louis Rams
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Song: XI
Mother, mother, do you not hear?
Mother, they come; there is news to tell!
– Give me your hands, my daughter dear:
'Tis but a ship that saileth well.
Mother dear, have a care, give heed!
–They go, my daughter, away they speed.
Mother, the danger is sore, alas!
– Child, my child, it will quickly pass.
Mother, mother, She draweth near!
– It is down in the harbour, daughter dear.
Mother, mother, She opens the door!
– Child, they go, to return no more.
Mother, She enters! I am afraid!
– Child, they now have the anchor weighed.
Mother, I hear Her speaking low.
– Child, my child, it is they that go.
Mother, She makes the stars go dark!
– Child, 'tis the sails of a shadowy bark.
Mother, She knocks at the casement still!
– Child, maybe it is fastened ill. . . .
Mother, mother, my sight grows dim. . . .
– Child, they sail for the open sea.
On every hand I can hear but Him. . . .
– O child, what is it, and who is He?
poem by Maurice Polydore-Marie-Bernard Maeterlinck
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Unlike Mother, Unlike Daughter
Her heart breaks for something she'll never have
A daughter of perfect honesty and obedience
With fair hair and bright eyes
Everything her son is
Instead the mother bore something strange
A loser, a liar, a Mrs. Lovett wannabe
Swearing not to change
Everything she doesn't want, doesn't need
But her daughter doesn't want to love anybody
She doesn't want love in return
She's sick of man's petty "acceptance"
She doesn't need "lessons" to learn
The Mother explains, "She understands, "
Clichés, "Daughter, tell me anything."
But her daughter knows,
She'd be afraid of what's in her head
Mother won't understand
The demons that chase her and charm her
For a while…
And scariest of all
The daughter realizes
The man she loves
She loves alone
It's sad to think about the monster
The Daughter holds so intrinsically close…
Her heart breaks for something she'll never have
A vengeful god of perfectly destructive melancholy
With dark hair and dark eyes
They try to tell her otherwise
But only the Daughter knows what her heart cannot compromise
Mother tries to convince her
Tries to stop a "fictional infatuation"
Still the daughter, unfazed, replies,
"You know you are my only condemnation."
poem by Gabrielle Fleming
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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In The Dark
Make me fumble
Make me fall
Make my heart stop and start
To tremble uncontrollably
Let my eyes see fear make desire
Keep those who long apart
Forbid the kiss
And leave us innocent
Of the things some do in the dark
The things some do in the dark
The things some do in the dark
Make me remember
Make me forget
Make my mind unable
To force the body to do its will
Let it be right for belief and denial
To share a space in the heart and leave us only to imagine
About the things some do in the dark
The things some do in the dark
The things some do in the dark
Make me pretend
Make me expect
Things can go and come to pass
Without trial or tribulation
Let this life space and time
Leave my body with permanent marks
Faded scars and lines
But not a single impression
Of the things some do in the dark
The things some do in the dark
The things some do in the dark
Let me be tempted
Let me be torn
But make my thoughts pure and not
Morally corrupt in form
Let us sleep tonight
Let innocence lie in our dreams and secret hearts
With burning desire
A need to know and do
The things some do in the dark
The things some do in the dark
The things some do in the dark
song performed by by Tracy Chapman
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Why Mira Can't Come Back to Her Old House
The colors of the Dark One have penetrated Mira's body; all the other colors washed out.
Making love with the Dark One and eating little, those are my pearls and my carnelians.
Meditation beads and the forehead streak, those are my scarves and my rings.
That's enough feminine wiles for me. My teacher taught me this.
Approve me or disapprove me: I praise the Mountain Energy night and day.
I take the path that ecstatic human beings have taken for centuries.
I don't steal money, I don't hit anyone. What will you charge me with?
I have felt the swaying of the elephant's shoulders;
and now you want me to climb on a jackass?
Try to be serious
[Translated by Robert Bly]
Turn Back?
This infamy, O my Prince,
is delicious!
Some revile me,
others applaud,
I simply follow my incomprehensible road.
A razor-thin path
but you meet some good people,
a terrible path but you hear a true word.
Turn back?
Because the wretched stare and see nothing?
O Mira's lord is noble and dark,
and slanderers
rake only themselves
over the coals
The Heat of Midnight Tears
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]
Strange Are The Decrees Of Fate
Strange are the decrees of fate.
Behold the large eyes of the deer!
Yet he is forced to roam the forests.
The harsh crane has brilliant plumage,
While the sweet-voiced cuckoo is black.
The rivers flow in pure streams,
But the sea makes them salt.
Fools sit on thrones as kings,
While the wise beg their bread.
Mira's lord is the courtly Giridhara:
The king persecutes the Bhaktas.
[From 'The devotional poems of Mirabai' and translated by A.J. Alston]
The Night
My voice that is for you the languid one, and gentle,
Disturbs the velvet of the dark night's mantle,
By my bedside, a candle, my sad guard,
Burns, and my poems ripple and merge in flood --
And run the streams of love, run, full of you alone,
And in the dark, your eyes shine like the precious stones,
And smile to me, and hear I the voice:
My friend, my sweetest friend... I love... I'm yours... I'm yours!
poem by Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Dark Suffering
The dark is my friend
the dark is my home.
For the dark dosent hurt me
as some people can
The dark is my comfert
the dark is where i hide
the dark is my heart
for this is how its come
the dark was coused by them
the ones who hurt me
for this is what i see the dark and suffering.
poem by Grace DeVon miller
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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I'm Always Here!
I’m here my daughter
Just open your heart
Look through your tears
And through the dark
I haven’t once left you
And never will I go
My loyalty is to you
I do hope you know
I see your heartbreak
I feel your pain
Look to me
Just call my name
I long for your hand
To guide you in the dark
Reach out my daughter
And open your heart
All will fail you
For none is as I
I am the closest
A friend that died
I gave the ultimate price
For you my friend
So with the minor
I so can tend
There is none to great
That can stand in my way
My daughter for you
I so graciously wait
Just lay at my feet
All these burdens you bare
For there’s none like I
Who will always be there?
I’m always here
Can you feel my touch?
I’m the beat in your heart
That loves you so much!
poem by Lagaya Evans
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Mother and Daughter Love
Mother and daughter love can be so fun...
A mother should love her daughter at all time
A mother have connection with her daughter
A daughter should love there mother with in and with out
A daughter should talk to her about anything with each other
A mother and daughter should love each other
That what some people call mother and daughter love.....
poem by Valentine White
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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The Dagger
The dagger of love has pierced my heart.
I was going to the river to fetch water,
A golden pitcher on my head.
Hariji has bound me
By the thin thread of love,
And wherever He draws me,
Thither I go.
Mira's Lord is the courtly Giridhara:
This is the nature
Of his dark and beautiful form.