The great transcending sky leaned from above
In silence kisses the aspiring earth;
Its vast unbounded space
Locked in the close embrace,
It turns the stainless void to sapphire love.

The one immutable Truth to souls below
In mystic union far beyond all time
Bends through the world’s play-bars,
Its suns and moons and stars
Are pale reflections from that Love sublime.

Page 163

THE MORNING STAR

Far hast thou travelled from Light’s unseen plane
Bringing the dawn ray of Eternity.
But oft thy missioned gaze has sought in vain
My sleep-bound eyes through windows barred to thee.

Life after life, into mortality’s sway
I fall; but still thou seekest me every morn,
Luring my soul to find the heavenward way,
A sudden glimmer in a heart forlorn,
Star-pointing to the endless joy of love
That leans towards earth from the Unknown above.

Page 164

A VISION OF THE SELF

The snow-capped high Himalaya that stands
Braving all storm, the boundless sky, the sea
Give but a faint glimpse of the Self to me;
Beyond all mortal ties my heart expands.

I am a peer of the stars unsullied bright
That in immutable silence look below
Upon the waves of earthly joy and woe,
Untouched, unfaltering in their course of light.

Frail life imprisoned in this mould of clay,
Brief dark stage in the journey of my soul
With Freedom, Love, Divinity the goal,
Not ever-doomed to suffer and decay.

Page 165

MY KING

At every turn Thou meetest me, O my King,
The sky in trance, the ever-wakeful sea
Thy aspects show; the flaming notes that bring
The cuckoo to her mate
With charm immortal draw all hearts to Thee.
Shooting their branches heavenward, green in faith,
The trees aspiring wait,
The wind blows with the sweetness of thy breath.
The world at play on its swing of suns and stars that gleam
Eternally, — all open only a gate
To endless miracles hidden in Thy Self Supreme.

Page 166

AN ECHO

An echo from Thy honied flute
Comes floating over earth’s agonies;
It fills my heart with a longing mute,
The dream of a joy that never dies.

It brings from far enchanting shades
A tune of Love’s eternal play
In groves where the full moon never fades
And blossomed cheeks have no decay.

Page 167

WHY WEEPEST?

Why weep’st thou the fall of a rose, ah why —
For the bloom that has had its day?
Or grievest for earthly joys that fly
At the end of their transient play?

The songs of birds and the air and the sky
Call thee to break thy chains
Of vain desire — vain and dry,
Hugging to the heart thy pains!

Take, O take what this world can give
In forms of beauty and grace —
The charms that the sun-set cloud-ways weave,
The smiles on a human face.

So growing in love and bliss, with thy soul
Released from all alloy,
In the All-Beautiful reach thy goal,
In the home of immortal joy.

Page 168

NEW BIRTH

Dissolve thyself, dissolve; let thy own hand
Kindle the funeral pyre,
All that thou wast, consume. This sole demand
Thy Master makes, to find life through this death.
The glory of the sacred fire
Of sacrifice shall move supernal Grace,
A hidden light shall burst, leap forth a breath
Of spring unknown to man’s desire!
Clinging to darkness tremblest thou to face
The ordeal flame? Snap, snap thy ancient chains with faith
In its Phoenix charm for the aspiring earth —
Let all the riches gathered in thy life’s long race
Be moulded by its alchemy to a greater birth.

Page 169

A SUMMER NIGHT

The night is cool; the oppressive glare of day
Has left no trace on earth; a landward breeze
Freshening and blowing through the spring-decked trees
Echoes the ceaseless roar of a troubled bay.
The young Moon with the monsoon clouds at play
Sends forth a dreamy gaze; a distant flute
Is marred by the barking of a haunted brute;
Forces of darkness hold the world in sway.
A thousand thought-forms racing through the mind,
Feelings of hope and fear, of joy and woe
That rise and fall like waves tossed by the wind —
Where are they shaped? Towards what goal their flow?
Nothing affects the Soul’s eternal sky
That watches in silence all this passing by.

Page 170

THE CROSS

I stand aside from Time’s domain,
The world rolls on before my eyes,
An interminable sea of sighs;
Benighted creatures struggle in vain
Against the ruthless sway of foes
Unseen, unknown, that daily forge
New chains, new torture slow but sure.
It was not once that Christ, the Pure,
Bled on the Cross, but every day
In thousand hearts he is nailed again!
All truth is mocked; this lump of clay
Distorts all love and beauty’s call;
Man’s quest of pleasure brings but pain.
The soul aroused now measures the fall
From its Divinity, and, lo!
The darkness faints before the glow
Of aspiration; nothing can
Repress the tiny spark in man,
Which waits to make him a living flame
Of all-engrossing love, that will
Redeem this clay, transmute all pain
To marvellous joy, and thus fulfil
Earth’s ancient dream and Heaven’s claim.

I stand aside from Time’s domain,
The world rolls on before my eyes,
A new Light dawning in its skies —
The Cross hath not been borne in vain.

Page 171

THE SECRET

The sun is covered up by clouds,
Evening draws mutely near;
There is a secret Nature shrouds
In the still unstirring air.

Motionless the trees — they seem to pray;
The sea is hushed and the sky;
Looks pale with patches of black and grey,
Long dulnesses tiring the eye.

But now the horizon flares; and bright
Colours to colours run,
And the clouds are changed to liquid light —
For the earth has kissed the Sun.

Page 173

MY BELOVED

Thy face is like a sacred dawn
Revealed to our dim mortal eyes,
A moment’s glow of Paradise;
Thy voice, heaven’s flute-call, draws me on
To a quest of maddening love; and Thy breath
Sweetness as of a breeze in May,
Is the dream of a joy that knows not death;
Thy touch transforms this inert clay
To a rapture-vessel filled to the brim,
And when my senses drinking deep
Thy honied beauty fall asleep
Intoxicated at Thy feet,
Exceeded is my human dream;
A mute clasp of the soul within,
Spirit with spirit twined, and in
Our union earth and heaven meet.

Page 174

MAHAKALI

Thine is the fiery will that mocks
Faint-hearted compromise;
Ruthless thou shearest all that blocks
Our path to Paradise.

The thunders whirl at Thy command,
O flaming, beautiful Mother!
Thou smitest with one mighty hand,
And savest with the other.

Pervasive of Thy tameless ire
Is an all-puissant love;
It leads us through the test of fire
To immortal gates above.

Page 175

THE GREAT HOUR

One who has pierced the heart of ancient gloom
With swarming suns and stars, who has endowed,
The dreary face of earth with life and bloom,
Whose tireless and infallible hands have ploughed.
Barren and pathless ages evolving this
Heaven-bound race of men born out of his
Immortal self, so long enwrapped by cloud,
Leads now the way to earth’s supreme release
From suffering and death, and opens the gate
To Life Divine. The hour’s a-throb with fate.
Forces of darkness rise in all their might
Against the march of dawn; but vain their fight
To hold their mortal sway; their frantic rush
To upset and baffle only deepens the hush
Of new creation; no stumbling human power,
A high omniscience moulds the poignant hour.

Page 176

ETERNAL SMILE

A patch of unnoticed shapeless grey
Perched above the blue rim of the sea,
In storm-dust engulfs the light of day,
Veils the sky, all-radiant and free.

My mind is ensnared by gilded show,
Smoky still the offering of fire,
Surprised is the heart by joy and woe,
Racked the flesh by tyrannous desire.

O Mother all-puissant, Grace Divine!
Still the roving senses into sleep,
Dispelling the shadows make me shine —
Sweet Thy smile for ever in the deep.

(This poem is written in the new metre invented by Sri Aurobindo in his poem “Trance”. In the first line two amphibrachs are followed by a cretic, in the second line the first foot is a cretic, the second an amphibrach and the last an anapaest.)

Page 177

A PRAYER

Let one desire consume me day and night
Seizing my body and soul — one golden flame
Absorbing all my roving passions’ might
Ceaselessly rise to Thee
Making of this my fragile mortal frame
A glowing vessel of Thy new-born Light
That hovers on earth and sea
In evening hush and moon-god’s crystal flight.

Page 178

GLIMPSES

I
The fault, the lapse in thousandfold detailed things,
The ego’s small claims blindly indulged by men, —
This forms a dark impervious layer
Screening the sunwhite Eternal Presence.
II
This human life so tangled in mortal bonds,
This shifting chaos fretted with hopes belied,
Thou weavest into heavenly patterns,
Colour and beauty and joy and wonder.
III
There is no sorrow racking the human soul,
But heals at once its ache when the heart is held
In Thy serene and blissful Presence;
Rent the oppression, the veil of darkness.

(In Alcaic measure as shown by Sri Aurobindo in “Jivanmukta”.)

Page 179

FEARLESS

No darksome power can take away from me
Thy gift of inexpressible joy and peace;
Behind all mortal suffering I see
The marching waves of Thy immortal bliss.
Unquenchable is the soul’s deep thirst for love
That keeps me, Mother, at Thy lotus feet;
While Thy compassion flows down from above,
Dire circumstance I need not fear to meet.
Dauntless I stand, immutable as a rock,
The world can no more wear upon its face
The old mask of sorrow and death; each trenchant shock
Brings me but closer into Thy embrace.
Gently I am lifted out of earthly strife,
And feel Thy Love transforming all my life.

Page 180

MOTHER EARTH

Born of Thy spirit, moulded from Thy clay,
I bear Thy agonies within my soul;
Through me Thou keenly aspirest night and day
To rend Thy mortal veil, and reach the goal
Of Immortality. I love Thee, Earth,
With all the passion of a filial heart.
Through ages Thou hast shaped my human birth,
Preluding Life Divine; I’ll play my part
Faithfully, my Mother; and will never fly
To liberation far away from Thee;
My soul is tuned with earth and sea and sky,
I feel my kinship with the humblest tree.
Thy bosom is my heaven, and Thou the Queen
Who will for ever my allegiance win.

Page 181

MAHALAKSHMI

In lotus-groves Thy spirit roves: where shall I find a seat for Thee?
To Thy feet’s tread — feet dawn-rose red — opening my heart
Thy throne shall be.
All things unlovely hurt Thy soul:
I would become a stainless whole:
O World’s delight, All-beauty’s might! unmoving house
Thy grace in me.
An arid heart Thou canst not bear:
It is Thy will — love’s bonds to wear:
Then by Thy sweetness’ magic completeness make me
Thy love’s eternal sea.

(Translated by Sri Aurobindo from a Bengali song.)

Page 182

THE HEART OF MY HEART

You are the heart of my heart, O Mother!
You are the light of my eyes, O Sweet!
Seeking in you alone my final refuge
Life is fulfilled at your radiant feet.
When I am afraid with the fear of the tempest
I bury my face in your lap for the while.
The mind’s imperfections, the myriad darkness
Are washed into light in the stream of your smile.
This difficult path I am treading, O Mother!
Is slippery, tangled with thorns, and unsafe.
At every turn under chains of my forging
Which ring at each footfall, I tremble and chafe.
When I cry out to you, “O my Mother! my Mother!”
Deep into my breast what a power you pour!
Removing all obstacles, in the black darkness
You kindle a splendour unkindled before.

The seers and the sages through ages and ages.
Have striven to fathom your Beauty so long!
A million poets have wrought their salvation
By singing your Infinite Wonder in song.
But alas! I have neither the power of the poet,
Nor knowledge of sages nor training of seers!
Yet, all that I know is to empty my bosom
And love you, O Love, in a rapture of tears.

(Translated by Harindranath Chattopadhaya from a Bengali song.)

Page 184

MOTHER VICTORIOUS

Upon this mortal earth Thou buildest a garden of Paradise,
O Mother of dreams, Mother victorious!
Overwhelmed with wonder the heart lies prostrate at Thy feet,
O Mother victorious!
Saints and great souls sing to Thee in adoration,
O Mother omnipotent, Mother victorious!
Blind darkness fall faint and numb before the arrows of Thy Light,
O Mother victorious!
Saviour from all evil, deliverer from pain is Thy Great Name,
O Mother victorious!
A home of safety is the refuge at Thy feet,
O Mother of Bliss, Mother victorious!
The fear of death and age vanishes today,
O all-conquering Mother, Mother victorious!
The seas of sorrow disappear at the touch of Thy Grace,
O Mother of Peace, Mother victorious!
The sheen of gold pales before Thy hue that enthrals my soul,
O Mother of Light, Mother victorious!
In the heart of the devotee Thou art the delight that is heaven’s nectar,
O Mother of Love, Mother victorious!

(Translated by Nolini Kanto Gupta from a Bengali song.)

Page 186

THE GUIDE

O Guide of the Way, how far is it? still how far?
He whose sweet flute-call I hear within my heart,
And it fills my soul with yearnings unknown,
Is this the path where he shall meet my sight?
— “No other path is there.”
The farther I advance, the longer stretches the road,
Tired are mind and body. Is it so, alas,
That all my life must be spent? Is there not an easier way
Known to thee, O my Guide?
— “No other path is there.”
The unfrontiered desert spreads its waste of fire,
No food is here for my hunger, no water for my thirst;
Insurmountable rise the mountains, violent is the speed of the rivers;
O Friend, is this indeed the path?
— “No other path is there.”
Many gilded illusions come that charm the heart
And they put out the Light on the Way, enemies numberless
Shoot from day to day their arrows, and escape there is none;
— “This the path by which thou must go —
No other path is there.”
Who art thou that art ever by my side and givest comfort and assurance?
Thy gaze mixes with mine, O thou Compassionate,
And all sorrow is forgotten at thy touch.
Thy path I will follow,
— No other path is there.
Oh, my thirsting soul has recognised thee,
Thine the sound of the flute, sweet like a cascade of nectar;
Cast off thy disguise, hide thyself from me no more —
All my journeying ends today at thy feet, O Beloved!