PagineO friend! hope for Him whilst you live
by Kabir
Translated by Rabindranath Tagore (1915) · From Songs of Kabir, III
O friend! hope for Him whilst you live, know whilst you live, understand whilst you live: for in life deliverance abides.
If your bonds be not broken whilst living, what hope of deliverance in death?
It is but an empty dream, that the soul shall have union with Him because it has passed from the body:
If He is found now, He is found then,
If not, we do but go to dwell in the City of Death.
If you have union now, you shall have it hereafter.
Bathe in the truth, know the true Guru, have faith in the true Name!
Kabîr says: "It is the Spirit of the quest which helps; I am the slave of this Spirit of the quest."
This poem and this translation are in the public domain. Source text: Project Gutenberg.