Mindless

Once my mind knew the ways of my heart:
To please my heart’s will was it’s most practiced art.
No moment of time did it lie idle:
To my heart’s desires, it’s thought’s were bridled.

Now my mind roams in paths far and wide:
To the guidance of heart, my mind’s been denied.
For my heart’s departed, run off, made away:
To the arms of the Beloved, one night it did stray.

Oh, callous Beloved! Thou true thief of hearts!
Mind and heart should be one, not reft into parts.
Have a care for my mind, left guideless and scattered!
With my heart it should be, not broken and tattered!

Though mindless and witless, one hope my mind sees,
To follow once more my heart’s true lead:
One dark night, one still night, it too will flee,
To the arms of the Beloved, no more to grieve!

—Bhai Din