the miller has disappeared...

You were once a swan singing
melodies, Lalla.

Now you're quiet.

Someone, I don't know who, has run off
with what belonged to you.

The millstone stops, and the hole
where the grain is fed in fills
with grain.

The channel leading
to the grinding work is covered over
and hidden,

and the miller
himself has disappeared.


- Lalla
14th Century North Indian mystic

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From "Naked Song"
Versions by Coleman Barks
Maypop, 1992