Look up

"I remember how my mother would hold me.
I would look up at her sometimes and see her weep.
I understand now what was happening.
Love so strong a force it broke the cage,
and she disappeared from everything for a blessed moment.

All actions have evolved From the taste of flight;
the hope of freedom moves our cells and limbs.
Unable to live on the earth, Mira ventured out alone in the sky -
I write of that journey of becoming as free as God.

Don't forget love; it will bring all the madness you need
to unfurl yourself across the universe."

"The Moon was perched like a golden hawk on the mango tree.
I knew the moon was like me ~ in heat, crazed and hunting.
So I climbed up there with that wild old gal thinking:
Two drunk beauties like us will surely snag Krishna with our eyes."

~ Mirabai is the most renowned woman poet-saint of India, her songs sung by Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs alike. When Mira was a small child she brought a plate of food to a sadhu. He whispered a few words in her ear and gave her a tiny statue of Krishna, which she forever treasured.

She was a fierce champion of human rights, especially woman's rights. With a shocking wit and penetrating insight she would expose the ridculous aspects of politics, orthodox religion, the caste system and chauvinistic oppression. Her songs often glorified the ascetic's life, and at times her poetry was very erotic. Mira's last years were spent attending the destitute until she joined her Lord."
~ Love Poems From God, translated by Daniel Ladinsky