Call out Kali, Kali

Just think of it, Mind –

No one’s anything to anyone.

You’ve come back to this world

For nothing.

And for the few days of your life

They all call you master.

But they’ll drop that master soon enough

When the master of life and death shows up.

And will she who you worried yourself sick for,

Will she stick by you then?

The dear woman will sprinkly cow dung

To clear out the bad luck.

Shri Ramprasad says: When Death

Grabs you by the hair,

Call out: Kali, Kali –

Then what can He do?

Ramprasad Sen

From: Grace and Mercy in her Wild Hair

Selected Poems to the Mother Goddess

Translated by Leonard Nathan and Clinton Seely