Perceptions

[Guest guest]

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For a moment I saw a beautiful moving river.

Then a vast water with no means of crossing it.

 

For a moment, I saw a bush full of opening buds.

Then no roses, no thorns, nothing.

 

For a moment I saw a busy cooking fire.

Then no hearth, no smoke, no flame.

 

I saw the great mother of kings, Kunti.

Then, the next moment, sitting here, is

the helpless old aunt of the potter's wife.

 

- Lalla

14th Century North Indian mystic

 

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From " Naked Song "

Versions by Coleman Barks

Maypop 1992