Lalleshwari Poems

The soul, like the moon,
is now, and always new again.

And I have seen the ocean
continuously creating.
...

Day will be erased in night.
The ground's surface will extend outward.

The new moon will be swallowed
in eclipse, and the mind in meditation
...

The joys of palate and fine apparel
bring man no lasting peace.
They who give up false hopes and don't
put trust in the things of the world,
...

By the highway I came,
But by the highway I return not.
And so I find me still on the embarkment,
not having gone even half the way,
...

To learn the scriptures is easy,
to live them, hard.
The search for the Real
is no simple matter.
...

If you've melted your desires
in the river of time, choose
to be a recluse, or choose
a family, the village job.
...

Though you are wise, be as a fool;
Though you can see, be as one blind;
Though you can hear, be as one deaf;
Patiently bear with all you meet,
...

What is worship? Who are this man
and this woman bringing flowers?

What kinds of flowers should be brought,
and what streamwater poured over the images?
...

The way is difficult and very intricate.
Lalla discarded her books that told
about it, and through meditation
...

The steed of mind speedeth over the sky,
And, in the twinkling of the eye,
A hundred thousand leagues traverseth he.
Yet a man of discrimination can control
...