Religion

Song XXI: Lamps burn in every house, O blind one! and you cannot see them.

by Kabir c. 1440–1518

Translated by Rabindranath Tagore, with Evelyn Underhill (1915) · From Songs of Kabir (1915)

Religion

Lamps burn in every house, O blind one! and you cannot see them.
One day your eyes shall suddenly be opened, and you shall see: and the fetters of death will fall from you.
There is nothing to say or to hear, there is nothing to do: it is he who is living, yet dead, who shall never die again.

Because he lives in solitude, therefore the Yogi says that his home is far away.
Your Lord is near: yet you are climbing the palm-tree to seek Him.
The Brâhman priest goes from house to house and initiates people into faith:
Alas! the true fountain of life is beside you., and you have set up a stone to worship.
Kabîr says: "I may never express how sweet my Lord is. Yoga and the telling of beads, virtue and vice--these are naught to Him."

MLA

Kabir. “Song XXI: Lamps burn in every house, O blind one! and you cannot see them.” Translated by Rabindranath Tagore, with Evelyn Underhill. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/kabir/20/.

Chicago

Kabir. “Song XXI: Lamps burn in every house, O blind one! and you cannot see them.” Translated by Rabindranath Tagore, with Evelyn Underhill. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/kabir/20/.

Read this poem with the Codex →

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