Inside this Clay Jug

Inside this Clay Jug
A poem by Kabir, Translation by Robert Bly

Inside this clay jug
there are canyons and
pine mountains,
and the maker of canyons
and pine mountains!

All seven oceans are inside,
and hundreds of millions of stars.

The acid that tests gold is here,
and the one who judges jewels.

And the music
that comes from the strings
that no one touches,
and the source of all water.

If you want the truth, I will tell you the truth:
Friend, listen: the God whom I love is inside.



© Robert Bly, from The Kabir Book: Fort-Four Ecstatic Poems by Kabir (1977)
Video: Texas Nafas performance from the dvd “Reading Rumi in an Uncertain World”.
Accompanied by David Whetstone on sitar.