The Music

My friend, the stain of the Great Dancer has penetrated my body. I drank the cup of music, and I am hopelessly drunk. Moreover I stay drunk, no matter what I do to become sober. Rana, who disapproves, gave me one basket with a snake in it. Mira folded the snake around her neck, it was a lover's necklace, lovely! Rana's next gift was poison: 'This is something for you, Mira.' She repeated the Holy Name in her chest, and drank it, it was good! Every name He has is praise; that's the cup I like to drink, and only that. 'The Great Dancer is my husband,' Mira says, 'rain washes off all the other colors.' English version by Robert Bly