Chewing slowly

By Kabir
Translated By Arvind Krishna Mehrotra
god my darling
do me a favour and kill my mother-in-law
             —Janabai, tr. Arun Kolatkar
Chewing slowly,
Only after I’d eaten
My grandmother,
Mother,
Son-in-law,
Two brothers-in-law,
And father-in-law
(His big family included)
In that order,
And had for dessert
The town’s inhabitants,

Did I find, says Kabir,
The beloved that I’ve become
One with.

Notes:

Read the translator's notes on this poem.

Source: Poetry (March 2011)