A Household in Imagination
You are beyond the reach of my touch,
yet I feel you within me.
You are beyond the limits of my sight,
yet I see you beside me every day.
You are even beyond my reality,
yet I know you as my own.
In imagination, I dwell in a tender household with you.
Fear
When someone becomes my own, I feel uneasy,
when someone comes too close, I grow terribly afraid.
Again and again it comes to my mind,
the moment I indulge this closeness,
they will vanish somewhere far away.
As close as they feel today,
they will dissolve into an even greater distance.
Ruin in Waiting
While being destroyed by waiting for his beloved, one day the lover understands,
in waiting there is both human dwelling, and here too is ruin.
Even then the lover does not move away from waiting,
only the object of waiting changes.
The lover who waited for his beloved carrying a household in his chest,
after that he falls silent and waits for death.
Giving Shelter to Sorrow
You think,
many waters gathered together create the sea.
And I think,
the sea has allowed the waters to stay within its vast chest.
You think further,
perhaps sorrow has consumed me.
I rather think,
I have merely given shelter to sorrow within me.
On What Trust
If your fascination must be satisfied by looking at the moon,
if words of burning must be told to the mirror,
if by gazing at the sky you must release sorrow in sighs.
If light suffocates my breath,
if darkness itself feels like the beloved.
Then what is the worth of the words “I love you” on this earth?
On what feeling do you become a beloved?
On what trust do you dream, do you teach love?
Keeping the Promise
Whether she stays or not,
my love will not lessen by a single drop.
If I cannot be her happiness,
it is only natural that she will seek her own.
But she is my happiness; I will remain unbroken here.
From my place I will keep loving,
I will not change.
Father’s Shoulder
To lift me up, father extended his hand,
yet I chose his shoulder.
Placing my foot on my father’s shoulder, I climbed up.
When another’s foot touched my body, I deemed him sinful,
though that person showed immediate remorse.
Yet placing my foot on my father’s shoulder,
I did not feel even the slightest sin.
Your Performance
And when I too laugh along with them,
they think perhaps I know nothing.
Yet I know everything!
I know they do not wish for my well-being.
In my absence they scatter thorns on my path,
plotting to pull me back and bring me to a halt.
In the Heart, with a Little Patience
I kept thinking only that you were mine.
In reality I never had you at any moment.
But when did I ever lose you?
Were you ever mine enough to touch? Of course not.
You were only in my heart, with a little patience.
Chameleon People
Take care of your mirror, do not let dust gather.
People these days are terribly chameleon-like.
If you trust them, you will lose yourself.
They will ask for the right to clean the dust from your mirror,
then under the pretext of wiping the dust, they will wipe you away.