paga bandha ghumgharyam nacyari

Binding my ankles with silver

I danced–

people in town called me crazy.

She’ll ruin the clan

said my mother-in-law,

and the prince

had a cup of venom delivered.

I laughed as I drank it.

Can’t they see–

body and mind aren’t something to lose,

the Dark One’s already seized them.

Mira’s lord can lift mountains,

he is her refuge.

thane kai kai bol

Dark Friend, what can I say?

This love I bring

from distant lifetimes is ancient–

don’t despise it.

Seeing your elegant body

I’m ravished.

Visit our courtyard, hear the women

singing old hymns.

On the square I’ve laid

out a welcome of teardrops,

body and mind I surrendered ages ago,

taking refuge

wherever your foot falls–

Mira flees from lifetime to lifetime,

your virgin.

jogi mata ja

Yogin, don’t go–

at your feet a slave girl has fallen.

She lost herself

on the devious path of romance and worship,

no one to guide her.

Now she’s built

an incense and sandalwood pyre

and begs you to light it.

Dark One, don’t go–

when only your cinder remains

rub my ash over your body.

Mira asks, Dark One,

can flame twist upon flame?

ankhyam tarasham darsan pyashi

Hungry eyes and I

crave him–

O friend, days shuttle past

while I rage out my lyric heart

on the highway.

A cuckoo up on a perch

torments my ear with its song–

ugly words come from the citizens, they make

me the butt of their jokes.

Thus Mira is sold on the market,

into the hands of her Dark One–

birth after birth.

aisi lagan lagai

You pressed Mira’s seal of love

then walked out.

Unable to see you

she’s hopeless,

tossing in bed–gasping her life out.

Dark One, it’s your fault–

I’ll join the yoginis,

I’ll take a blade to my throat in Banaras,

Mira gave herself to you–

you touched her intimate seal

and then left.

mero bedo lagajyo para

Guide this little boat

over the waters,

what can I give you for fare?

Our mutable world holds nothing but grief,

bear me away from it.

Eight bonds of karma

have gripped me–

the whole of creation

swirls eight million wombs,

through eight million birth forms we flicker.

Mira cries, Dark One–

take this little boat to the far shore,

put an end to coming

and going.