book 10 & Lal Ded Poetess

tar dyun [to ferry across]

loh langar [worldly affairs]

abakh chhan [an untrained carpenter]

zuvbramun [to long for something]

pahli ros khyol [a shepherdless flock]

dumatas rinz [to have no effect]

k aras gor dyun [to feed jaggery to an ass]

vakh tu vatsun [to heed a precept]

ravan tyol [the pain of losing]

varzan vav [a storm]

kal ganuny [to remember badly]

achh talavas laguny [to long for some one, to yearn]

I roamed the ten directions and pierced the wind and the void. I closed the nine gates of the body and shut out the thirty-six,

Wherever I looked I found the Lord.

aayas vate gayas naa vate
suman satha lusum dho
vuchum chandas har no atha
Yath nav taras dim kyha bha

From a way I came,
by that way I did not return.
And I find myself in midst of enbankment,
not having gone even half the way,
And the day is done, the light has failed.
I search my pockets but not a cowry find:
What shall I pay for the ferry ?

da’mi dithu’m nad pakevu’ni
da’mi dyuthum suum na’th tar
da’mi dithu’m thar fuwalwani
da’mi dyuthum gul na’th khaar

I saw a stream flowing;
Now neither a bank nor a bridge I see.
I saw a bush in bloom;
Now neither a rose nor a thorn I see.

da’mii dhitthu’m ga’j dazu’vu’nii
da’mii dyuthum dh’ha na’th naar
da’mii dhitthu’m Pandavan hu’unz ma’ji
da’mii dhitthu’m kraji mass

I saw the hearth ablaze,
Now neither fire nor smoke I see.
I saw a Pandava Mother,
Now a potters’ wife I see.

Ami pana so’dras nAvi ches lamAn
Kati bozi Day myon meyti diyi tAr
Ameyn tAkeyn poniy zan shemAn
Zuv chum bramAn gara gatshaha.

With a rope of loose-spun thread am I towing
my boat upon the sea.
Would that God hear my prayer
and bring me safe across!
Like water in cups of unbaked clay
I run to waste.
Would God, I were to reach my home

!

“Some leave their home, some the hermitage

But the restless mind knows no rest.

Then watch your breath day and night,

And stay where you are”

Lalleswari.

14th century saint poetess of Kashmir.