‘I’ll Tear Off Your Wings’

Love’s Lunacy

I dance
wearing
ankle-bells

people say
I’m mad
mother-in-law says
the ruin
of our clan

Rana
sent me poison
I drank it
and laughed

offered
body and soul
for one look
at you

Girdhar
my master
now let me come
to you

(Mirabai: Rahul Soni)

fever-bird
stop crying
piya-piya

or
I’ll tear off
your wings
cut off
your beak
rub salt
in your wounds

I’m aching
for my piya, my lover
I’m his
and he’s mine
why should you
call to him

but
if your call
brings him to me
I’ll gild
your beak
I’ll crown you
king

crow
go tell my lover

his woman
can’t eat
without him
she keeps
crying
piya-piya

come back soon
my master

you know all
don’t you know
I can’t live
without you

(Mirabai: Rahul Soni)

Ma, who can comprehend your compassion
All is madness thanks to your maya, mad girl
No one recognizes anyone in this world of illusion
You know those pretend-Kalis, they do exactly as they see
Who knows for certain what the mad girl’s torments may be
Ramprasad says grace and mercy make all troubles flee

(Ramprasad Sen: Sampurna Chattarji)

Seeing the bright moon
Betray the path,
She bent her face
And cried aloud.
She took mascara from her eyes
And painted Rahu
Eating the moon.
O Madhava,
In a foreign land
Harsh is the heart.
Come back.
I have seen your loved one
Frightened of the god of love.
She calls on Siva
Again and again,
Writhing in the dust,
Offering
Her breasts and hands.
Her body once clutched by your fingers,
She cannot bear the southern breeze.
Gone is her life yet hope teases her
And still she plays
With the fangs of a snake.

(Vidyapati: Deben Bhattacharya)

O madman, with the moon-crowned hair,
God of grace, O Lord,
how can I ever forget you?
You dwell forever in my heart.
In Arutturai, shrine of grace,
in Venneynallur on Pennai’s southern bank,
you took me for your own —
how can I deny you now?

(Sundarar: Indira Viswanathan Peterson)

When the snake of separation
Bites the body, mantras
Don’t work.
Without Ram you can’t live
If you live, you go mad.

(Kabir: Linda Hess and Shukdev Singh)

Their eyes deluged
In ecstasy

Their bodies stippled
With goose flesh

Their intellects stunned
Into imbecility

Like drunken bees,
Incoherent, words vaporizing

On their tongues —
Their madness testimony

To your worship, Great Mother,
Unrivalled by any other.

(Abhirami Bhattar: Arundhathi Subramaniam)