Oh Friend, I Love You, Think This Over

Kabir 1440 (Banaras) – 1518 (Maghar)



Oh friend, I love you, think this over
      carefully! If you are in love,
then why are you asleep?

If you have found him,
give yourself to him, take him.

Why do you lose track of him again and again?

If you are about to fall into heavy sleep anyway,
why waste time smoothing the bed
and arranging the pillows?

Kabir will tell you the truth: this is what love is like:
suppose you had to cut your head off
and give it to someone else,
what difference would that make?

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

27 sec read
136

Quick analysis:

Scheme XXX AA X XXX XXXX
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 467
Words 93
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 3, 2, 1, 3, 4

Kabir

Kabīr was a mystic poet and saint of India, whose writings have greatly influenced the Bhakti movement. The name Kabir comes from Arabic al-Kabīr which means 'The Great' – the 37th name of God in Islam. Kabir's legacy is today carried forward by the Kabir Panth, a religious community that recognizes him as its founder and is one of the Sant Mat sects. Its members, known as Kabir panthis, are estimated to be around 9,600,000. They are spread over north and central India, as well as dispersed with the Indian diaspora across the world, up from 843,171 in the 1901 census. His writings include Bijak, Sakhi Granth, Kabir Granthawali and Anurag Sagar. more…

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