Oh Camel-Mind, Shed Your Laziness!
~ Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai
The night is moonlit, the ground even
The road is long, oh camel!
Don’t look back on the path to the beloved
Let your resolve be
Nothing short of reaching him!
O camel-mind, shed your laziness!
The road to your beloved is straight.
It’s not crooked, so give up your groans
Quciken your pace
So that I may meet him tonight
I tied him near a tree
Laden with tender buds
But the wrethced camel
Gobbles only desert shrubs, oh mother!
The ways of this camel perplex me
Tie it down with a strong rope
When there are creepers on the path
Once your camel tastes them
It’ll be impossible to fetter him.
I was the leader of my herd, the prominent one
I fed carelessly on big branches
My destiny worked against me
I’m chained and blinded today!
Flinging off his nine fetters
The camel broke free at dawm
And ran to the beloved
At a place of priceless tress
Where two branches cost ten million
Where a twig is worth half a million
My camel feeds!
The camel is priced one million
But paying ten is worth it for him!
Fed him cardamoms to keep him perky
Even as you saddle and mount him
You’ll reach the beloved in a flash.
