For Love of the Dark One

Erotics, rebellion, spiritual thirst, a strong hint of early feminism, and a steaming animal passion--these are what make Mirabai's songs irrepressible four centuries after she sang them. Schelling, who gave Americans their first clean taste of the erotic tradition of old Sanskrit, now provides a Mirabai able to dance on our highways. To open this book is to get close to the oldest kind of song--sweet and bitter, sage and spontaneous. And to remember why we're on earth. --Anne Waldman.