Mirabai is a legendary literary and spiritual figure. Born a princess in Rajasthan in 1498, Mira (as she is more commonly known) eschewed the marriage her royal family had arranged for her, celebrating instead her right to independence and intense devotion to Krishna in both her life and poetry. In this collection, two acclaimed poets, Robert Bly and Jane Hirshfield, have created lively English versions of Mirabai’s poems, using fresh images and energetic rhythms to make them accessible to modern readers.
The Flute
The song of the flute, O sister, is madness.
I thought that nothing that was not God could hold me,
But hearing that sound, I lose mind and body,
My heart wholly caught in the net.
O flute, what were your vows, what is your practice?
What power sits by your side?
Even Mira’s Lord is trapped in your seven notes.
About the Author
ROBERT BLY is the author of the groundbreaking New York Times bestseller Iron John: A Book About Men, as well as several collections of original poetry, most recently, The Night Abraham Called to the Stars: Poems. He has translated numerous poets into English, including Kabir, Pablo Neruda, Cesar Vallejo, Juan Ramon Jimenez, and Frederico Garcia Lorca.
Award-winning poet, essayist, and translator Jane Hirshfield is the author of several collections of poetry, including The Beauty, a finalist for the National Book Award, Come, Thief, After, shortlisted for the T. S. Eliot Prize, and Given Sugar, Given Salt, a finalist for the National Book Critics Award, among others. She is also editor and co-translator of two classic collections of women’s poetry, The Ink Dark Moon: Poems by Komachi and Shikibu, Women of the Ancient Court of Japan and Women in Praise of the Sacred: 43 Centuries of Spiritual Poetry by Women.
