Lal Ded, translated by Coleman Barks in Women in Praise of the Sacred: 43 Centuries of Spiritual Poetry by Women, ed. Jane Hirshfield, Harper Perennial, 1995, p.126.
On the way to God the difficulties
feel like being ground by a millstone,
like night coming at noon, like
lightning through the clouds.
But don’t worry!
What must come, comes.
Face everything with love,
as your mind dissolves in God.
2 comments:
Yes, that’s a good description of how I’ve often felt lately! As if ground by a millstone. Is that God making me into some useful kind of flour?
This poem by a 14th century Hindu poetess reminds me very much of the famous mystic Lady Julian of Norwich, of 14th century England, who tells us that “all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.” Somehow the painful grinding is breaking me down in some way so that I will dissolve in God.
Dear God/ess, Please dissolve my mind into You. Without Your presence in my consciousness, I do feel ground down, alone in the frightening dark, struck by lightning unawares. I know in my soul that You are with me even when I do not feel your presence, even when I am in the dark crisis of despairing hope. I await for You always to reappear, though sometimes not quickly enough to satisfy my desire. Always caring, let me dissolve in You. Please.
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