Poems Of India - XXIII

People,
male and female,
blush when a cloth covering their shame
comes loose.

When the lord of lives
lives drowned without a face
in the world, how can you be modest?

When all the world is the eye of the lord,
onlooking everywhere, what can you
cover and conceal?

-- Akka Mahādēvi [Translated by A. K. Ramanujan in the book - Speaking of Siva]


Look here, dear fellow:
I wear these men's clothes
only for you.

Sometimes I am man.
sometimes I am woman.

O' lord of the meeting rivers
I'll make war for you
but I'll be your devotees' bride.
 
-- Basavanna [Translated by A. K. Ramanujan in the book - Speaking of Siva]

No comments:

Post a Comment