The Silver Call

A poem by Sri Aurobindo

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 sonnet  Written on or before 25 April 1934  Published posthumously

The Silver Call

There is a godhead of unrealised things
    To which Time's splendid gains are hoarded dross;
A cry seems near, a rustle of silver wings
    Calling to heavenly joy by earthly loss.

All eye has seen and all the ear has heard
    Is a pale illusion by some greater voice
And mightier vision; no sweet sound or word,
    No passion of hues that make the heart rejoice

Can equal those diviner ecstasies.
    A Mind beyond our mind has sole the ken
Of those yet unimagined harmonies,
    The fate and privilege of unborn men.

As rain-thrashed mire the marvel of the rose,
Earth waits that distant marvel to disclose.



Part VII : Pondicherry (Circa 1927-1947) > Sonnets from Manuscripts (Circa 1934-1947)   



How to read the color-coded changes below? 1. SABCL version : lines with any changes & specific changes 2. CWSA version : lines with any changes & specific changes

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  Is a pale illusion by some greater voice
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  And mightier vision; no sweet sound or word,
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  No passion of hues that make the heart rejoice
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- Can equal these diviner ecstasies.
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+ Can equal those diviner ecstasies.
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  A Mind beyond our mind has sole the ken
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  Of those yet unimagined harmonies,
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  The fate and privilege of unborn men.

NOTES FROM EDITOR

Written on or before 25 April 1934 (when Sri Aurobindo quoted five lines in a letter to Dilip Kumar Roy); revised 1944.Five handwritten manuscripts and one typed manuscript; the first handwritten manuscript was written shortly after those of the two preceding sonnets. The original poem went through several versions, eventually becoming two, “The Silver Call” and “The Call of the Impossible”. The final version of “The Silver Call” is dated “193-(?)/ 23.3.44”.





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 sonnet  Published posthumously  Different versions  SABCL & CWSA  Only CWSA