The Light Alone

This collection of mystical poetry by the most famous 14th-century Kashmiri saint, 'Mother Lalla', witnessing the depths of her metaphysical vision and her spiritual realisation. These verses, which have been memorised and treasured for centuries by both Hindus and Muslims, are here rendered into English verse by the American poet and contemplative Barry McDonald. Lalla's poems, at once sober and ecstatic, combine metaphysical doctrine with imagery drawn from everyday life, transmitting a purified and ennobled vision of the world where the physical and metaphysical are mutually reflected in each other. This alchemy, transmitted in part through her verses, allows readers from all religious traditions, across the centuries and beyond cultural boundaries, to appreciate the great depth of her realization and to benefit from it.