Kali Gleanings V

Crazy is my father, crazy my mother,
And I, their son, am crazy too!
Shyama is my mother’s name.
My father strikes his cheeks and makes a hollow sound:
Ba-ba-boom! Ba-ba-boom!
And my mother, drunk and reeling,
Falls across my father’s body!
Shyama’s streaming tresses hang in vast disorder;
Bees are swarming numberless
About her crimson lotus feet.
Listen, as she dances, how her anklets ring!

Bengali devotional hymn to Kali

O Kali! why dost thou roam about nude?
Art thou not ashamed, Mother!
Garb and ornaments thou hast none; yet thou
pridest in being king’s daughter.
O Mother! is it a virtue of thy family that
thou placest thy feet on thy Husband?
Thou art nude; thy husband is nude; you both
roam cremation grounds.
O Mother! we are all ashamed of you; do put on
thy garb.
Thou hast cast away thy necklace of jewels
Mother, and worn a garland of human heads.
Prasada says, ‘Mother! thy fierce beauty has
frightened thy nude consort.’

Ramprasad Sen (1718-75)