Mirabai: Ecstatic Poems - Hardcover

Afterword by John Straton Hawley

A stunning collection of poems by Mirabai, the fifteenth-century female Indian ecstatic poet

Like Coleman Barks’s translations of Rumi, this collection of poems by Mirabai will appeal to anyone interested in spiritual poetry. Translator and renowned poet Robert Bly has teamed up with Jane Hirshfield, a leader in the field of feminine spiritual poetry and a highly respected poet herself, to bring us a passionate and inspiring collection of the ecstatic poems of Mirabai.

Mirabai was a figure of legendary proportions. Born a princess in Rajasthan, India, in 1498, Mira (as she was commonly known) fought tradition and celebrated both the body and the spirit in her work. After leaving her royal family, Mira wandered the land and developed a following as a kind of martyr, a poet-saint. She died in 1550 in Dwarka, India, a well-known and well-loved poet throughout her country.

Now, Bly and Hirshfield brilliantly translate this sage’s work so we may enjoy and learn from her wisdom and devotion. Full of drama, passion, and yearning, any reader will appreciate Mirabai’s language and will easily become entranced and inspired by the simplicity with which she expresses deep emotion.