Poems Of India - XIV

Look here,
the legs are two wheels;
the body is a wagon
full of things.

Five men* drive
the wagon
and one man is not
like another.

Unless you ride it
in full knowledge of its ways
the axle
will break,

0 Lord of Caves. 

* five men refers here to the body's five senses.. 

-- ALLAMA PRABHU [Translated by A. K. Ramanujan in the book - Speaking of Siva]

 **********

A running river
is all legs.

A burning fire
is mouths all over.

A blowing breeze
is all hands.

So, lord of the caves,
for your men,
every limb is Symbol.

-- ALLAMA PRABHU [Translated by A. K. Ramanujan in the book - Speaking of Siva]