Salok Bhagat Kabir, Salok 124 — thirsty in the middle of the rain
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Kabir says: the sky is covered with clouds. The rain has poured down, and the ponds and lakes are full to the brim.
Yet some stay thirsty, like the rainbird. What will become of them?
Even when water is everywhere, some stay thirsty, like the rainbird.
Ambar ghanhar chhaa-i-aa: dark clouds cover the sky. Barakh bharay sar taal: the rain has filled the ponds and lakes. There is water everywhere.
The chaatrik is the rainbird of Indian poetry. The old stories say it drinks only one special raindrop that falls from the sky, and it waits with its beak lifted, calling for it. Kabir asks tin ko ka-un havaal: what is the state of those who stay thirsty like this? He leaves the question for the reader to sit with.
What are you thirsty for that the things around you do not fill?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI