You who seek to know the Infinite:
     prepare your body in gentle ways.

The pear tree gives forth seed;
     the seed contains June blossom,
     August shade, fruit in autumn.

Just so, the body’s host to the source of life;
     that source sustains another body.

Earth, metal, water; fire, air, ether —
     all the elements live within
     the palace of Creation.

Ask yourself: what exists
     outside the realm
      of spirit?

Put the brimful jar of water upon the ocean—
     water is inside, water’s all around.
Don’t give it names and confuse yourself
     with “this” and “that.”

Kabir says: Listen heartily
     to the truth
     of who you are.

The music deep inside of you
     sings to itself
      without ceasing.

It sounds out the world.

after Rabindranath Tagore’s translation of XLVI: I. 98. sadho, sahajai kaya sodho,
in One Hundred Poems of Kabir, London: Macmillan & Co., 1915, pp. 52-53

© Lisa Sarasohn 2013