POEM: THIS TURNING WHEEL OF TIME

by contemplativeinquiry

I have a mixed response to this poem. I find it insightful, and I want to share it. I also find it theatrically harsh and sweeping. It feels like being shaken awake by an over zealous friend whilst gradually emerging into daylight at my own pace. I am not sure whether this is mainly due to Kabir or to his followers and successors, right down to translator Andrew Harvey. For Kabir never wrote anything himself – his songs were written down by others before being copied and circulated far and wide.

Make your own choice, friends.

Seek Truth while

You’re still in a body.

Find your own place.

When you’re dead

What house will you have?

O my friend,

You just don’t get

Your one true chance.

Don’t you see

In the end

No-one belongs to you?

Kabir says: it’s brutal

This turning wheel of time.

(1) Kabir Turn Me To Gold: 108 poems of Kabir Unity Village, MO: Unity Books, 2018 Translations by Andrew Harvey Photographs by Brett Hurd.

See also https://contemplativeinquiry.blog/2021/01/30/turn-me-to-gold/