Religion
Psalms of the Sisters LII: Khemā
Translated by Mrs. C. A. F. Rhys Davids (1909) · From Psalms of the Early Buddhists I: Psalms of the Sisters (1909)
Thou art fair, and life is young, beauteous Khemā!
I am young, even I, too–Come, O fairest lady!
While in our ear fivefold harmonies murmur melodious,
Seek we our pleasure.'
'Through this body vile, foul seat of disease and corruption,
Loathing I feel, and oppression. Cravings of lust are uprooted.
Lusts of the body and sense-mind cut like daggers and javelins.
Speak not to me of delighting in aught of sensuous pleasure!
Verily all such vanities now no more may delight me.
Slain on all sides is the love of the world, the flesh, and the devil.
Rent asunder the gloom of ignorance once that beset me.
Know this, O Evil One! Destroyer, know thyself worsted!
Lo! ye who blindly worship constellations of heaven,
Ye who fostering fire in cool grove, wait upon Agni,
Ignorant are ye all, ye foolish and young, of the Real,
Deeming ye thus might find purification from evil.
Lo! as for me I worship th' Enlightened, the Uttermost Human,
Utterly free from all sorrow, doer of Buddha's commandments.'
Cite this poem
MLA
Therigatha, The Sisters of the. “Psalms of the Sisters LII: Khemā.” Translated by Mrs. C. A. F. Rhys Davids. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/therigatha-sisters/51/.
Chicago
Therigatha, The Sisters of the. “Psalms of the Sisters LII: Khemā.” Translated by Mrs. C. A. F. Rhys Davids. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/therigatha-sisters/51/.
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