Why Is Mother Kali So Radiantly Black?

Why is Mother Kali so radiantly black? Because she is so powerful, that even mentioning her name destroys delusion. Because she is so beautiful, Lord Shiva, Conquerer of death, lies blissfully vanquished, beneath the red soled feet. There are subtle hues of blackness, But her bright complexion is the mystery that is utterly black, overwhelmingly black, wonderfully black. When she awakens in the lotus shrine within the heart's secret cave, her blackness becomes the mystic illumination that causes the twelve petal blossom there to glow more intensely than golden embers. Her lovely form is the incomparable Kali- black blacker than the King of Death. Whoever gazes upon this radiant blackness falls eternally in love and feels no attraction to any other, discovering everywhere only her. This poet sighs deeply, 'Where is this brilliant lady, this black light beyond luminosity? Though I have never seen her, simply hearing her name, the mind becomes absorbed completely in her astonishing reality. Om Kali! Om Kali! Om Kali! [Translated by Lex Hixon From Mother of the Universe]