Art, Poetry, Music, and Nature for the New Year
Monday February 15 2021

The Reverend Dr. Katie Snipes Lancaster

Word
But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. Luke 6:27-28

Poetry

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[I was passionate] by Lal Ded (Translated by Jane Hirshfield)

Born in Kashmir, the 14th century Kashmiri saint and mystic Lal Ded devoted herself to the divine at the age of 26 after escaping an abusive pre-arranged marriage that began when she was 12 years old. Poet Ranjit Hoskote describes her poetry calling it “brief and blinding bursts of light: epiphanic, provocative, they shuttle between the vulnerability of doubt and the assurance of an insight gained through resilience and reflection.”

A spiritual and literary figure beloved by both Hindus and Muslims for centuries, her poems or “utterances,” have been made into songs, prayers and proverbs chiefly circulated orally. This is one of those poems that has been an interfaith inspiration for almost seven hundred years. Passion, longing, searching, finding—these are all classic, humble, innate ways to draw near to the divine. I especially appreciate the sentiment of being “at home” in God, the Truthful One.

Blessing
May we search and find ourselves at home in you, O God. Amen.

[I was passionate] by Lal Ded

I was passionate,
filled with longing,
I searched
far and wide.

But the day
that the Truthful One
found me,
I was at home.