' Your Death Panic Will Fade '...

The royal fan, sunshade, and chariot,
The throne itself, the happy feasting,
the theatre nights, your soft, down bed,
which of these can help your fear of death?

You're demolished the highbanked marsh road.
How is it now out in the swamp?
Death will come at one specific moment.
How does that make you feel?

There are two results and three causes.
Practice the breath. Rise
through the disc of the sun.
Your death panic will fade.

Let your body wear your knowing.
Let your heart sing songs.

Lalla has become a syllable
of soul-light. There is no death.



- Lalla
14th Century North Indian mystic

From "Naked Song"
Versions by Coleman Barks
Maypop 1992