Lines From the Tomb of an Unknown Woman

Taken from a tomb on the Fu-Kiu mountain district of So-Chau in the Province of Kiangsu. The date of the poem is many centuries old. Mother of Pity, hear my prayer That in the endless round of birth No more may break my heart on earth, Nor by the windless waters of the Blest Weary of rest; That drifting, drifting, I abide not anywhere. Yet if by Karma's law I must Resume this mantle of the dust Grant me, I pray, One dewdrop from thy willow spray, And in the double lotus keep My hidden heart asleep.