Twilight Speech is a collection of essays and translations by an accomplished American poet who has spent years studying the classical poetries and poetics of India. The various writings in this book take up folklore, music and Buddhist poetics, as well as examining how these have influenced contemporary concerns, such as environmentalism and avant-garde poetry. Many of the essays are illuminated by translations, which serve as guides to the old poetries-secular Prakrits and classical Sanskrit verse forms, the mysteries of Isha Upanishad, poems from early Buddhist monks, and songs of the Rajasthani princess Mirabai. Other essays look at Tibetan Buddhist chant, ecological activism, and the war in Afghanistan.