MY heart cries....by Kabir

MY heart cries aloud for the house of my lover; 
the open road and the shelter of a roof are all one to her 
who has lost the city of her Beloved.

My heart finds no joy in anything: 
my mind and my body are distraught.
His palace has a million gates, 
but there is a vast ocean between it and me:
How shall I cross it, O friend? 
for endless is the outstretching of the path.

How wondrously this lyre is wrought! 
When its strings are rightly strung, 
it maddens the heart: 
but when the keys are broken 
and the strings are loosened, 
none regard it more.

I tell my friends with laughter 
that I must go to my Beloved in the morning; 
They are angry, for they do not want me to go, 
and they say: 
"She thinks she has gained such dominion over her Beloved 
that she can have whatsoever she wishes; 
and therefore she is impatient to go to him."

Dear friend, lift my veil lightly now; 
for this is the night of love.

Kabîr says: 
"Listen to me! 
My heart is eager to meet my lover: 
I lie sleepless upon my bed. 
Remember me early in the morning!"

~ Kabir 
The Songs of Kabir, 
tr. by Rabindranath Tagore
Art by Natalia Tejera