(I Was Passionate)

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

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

Note: The untitled poem above was written by Lalla, also known as Lalleswari or Lal Ded, a Kashmiri woman who lived from 1320-1391. She had an unhappy marriage, so she left home to study under a spiritual Hindu teacher. Later on, she traveled around the Kashmiri countryside and met Sayyid Ali Hamadani, a famous Sufi saint. She wrote several mystical poems, which have been translated by Coleman Barks, Jane Hirshfield, Willis Barnstone, and others. This poem was taken from, "Women in Praise of the Sacred" edited by Jane Hirshfield.

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