PoetiX Streamby Laurence Fuller

Songs of Kabir — Song XXI

Songs of Kabir — Song XXI

Kabir

II. 33. _ghar ghar dîpak barai_
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."

Verse breaks and indentation are preserved. Wrapped lines have a hanging indent. Width adapts to your screen.

Complete 100-song 1915 English selection translated by Rabindranath Tagore. A selected edition, not the entire Kabir corpus. · Translated by Rabindranath Tagore
Read the original source ↗

BRING THIS POEM TO LIFE

Commission a cinematic poem

Laurence Fuller brings verse, performance and moving images together. Commission a cinematic interpretation of Songs of Kabir — Song XXI by Kabir, or a poem of your choosing, for your collection.

Open the full commission form →
More by Kabir ↗Explore the catalogue

POETIX STREAM · LAURENCE FULLER

Poetry made visible

Discover Laurence Fuller’s cinematic artworks ~ where poetry, performance and painting meet.

Cinematic Poetry by Laurence FullerExplore all

Kaleidoscope I ~ Green
SOHO: The Return ~ Abandoned Museum
A Labyrinth of Dreams
The Fortune ~ Act I: The Harpoon
Destiny
ReliX ~ Banished II
Kaleidoscope V ~ The Conversation
Trials of Destiny II
Kaleidoscope VI ~ Sky
1616 ~ Night Watch: The Delft Riots
1616 ~ Shakespeare's Last Day
Commission your own cinematic poem ↗