Poem – I Came Straight

I came straight, 
And straight I shall return. 

How can the crooked lead me astray? 

Surely, no harm can come to me: 

He knows me from the beginning of time, 

And loves me. 

Poem – Slay the Murderous Demons

Slay the murderous demons, 
Lust, Anger and Greed; 

Or, aiming their arrows at you, they will 

surely shoot you dead. 

Take care, feed them on self-restraint 

and discrimination of the Self; 

Thus starved these demons will become 

powerless and weak. 

Poem – Five Sayings of Lal Ded

I
By a way I came, but I went not by the way.

While I was yet on the midst of the embankment

with its crazy bridges, the day failed for me.

I looked within my poke, and not a cowry came to hand

(or, atI, was there) .

What shall I give for the ferry-fee? 

(Translated by G. Grierson) 
II 
Passionate, with longing in mine eyes,

Searching wide, and seeking nights and days,

Lo’ I beheld the Truthful One, the Wise,

Here in mine own House to fill my gaze.

(Translated by R.C. Temple) 
III 
Holy books will disappear, and then only the mystic formula will remain.

When the mystic formula departed, naught but mind was left.

When the mind disappeared naught was left anywhere,

And a voice became merged within the Void.

(Translated by G. Grierson) 
IV 
You are the heaven and You are the earth,

You are the day and You are the night,

You are all pervading air,

You are the sacred offering of rice and flowers and of water; 

You are Yourself all in all,

What can I offer You? 
V 
With a thin rope of untwisted thread

Tow I ever my boat o’er the sea.

Will God hear the prayers that I have said? 

Will he safely over carry me? 

Water in a cup of unbaked clay,

Whirling and wasting, my dizzy soul

Slowly is filling to melt away.

Oh, how fain would I reach my goal.