{"id":1021,"date":"2013-07-13T01:32:04","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:32:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=1021"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:32:04","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:32:04","slug":"07-book-5-canto-02-satyavan-vol-29-savitri-volume-29","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/01-sabcl\/29-savitri-volume-29\/07-book-5-canto-02-satyavan-vol-29-savitri-volume-29","title":{"rendered":"-07_Book 5 Canto 02 Satyavan.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\n\n\n
\n

\n <\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n
\n

Canto Two<\/i> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n Satyavan<\/font><\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

All
\nshe remembered on this day of Fate,<\/p>\n

The
\nroad that hazarded not the solemn depths<\/p>\n

But
\nturned away to flee to human homes,<\/p>\n

The
\nwilderness with its mighty monotone,<\/p>\n

The
\nmorning like a lustrous seer above,<\/p>\n

The
\npassion of the summits lost in heaven,<\/p>\n

The
\ntitan murmur of the endless woods.<\/p>\n

As
\nif a wicket-gate to joy were there<\/p>\n

Ringed
\nin with voiceless hint and magic sign,<\/p>\n

Upon
\nthe margin of an unknown world<\/p>\n

Reclined
\nthe curve of a sun-held recess;<\/p>\n

Groves
\nwith strange flowers like eyes of gazing nymphs<\/p>\n

Peered
\nfrom their secrecy into open space,<\/p>\n

Boughs
\nwhispering to a constancy of light<\/p>\n

Sheltered
\na dim and screened felicity,<\/p>\n

And
\nslowly a supine inconstant breeze<\/p>\n

Ran
\nlike a fleeting sigh of happiness<\/p>\n

Over
\nslumberous grasses pranked with green and gold.<\/p>\n

Hidden
\nin the forest’s bosom of loneliness<\/p>\n

Amid
\nthe leaves the inmate voices called,<\/p>\n

Sweet
\nlike desires enamoured and unseen,<\/p>\n

Cry
\nanswering to low insistent cry.<\/p>\n

Behind
\nslept emerald dumb remotenesses,<\/p>\n

Haunt
\nof a Nature passionate, veiled, denied<\/p>\n

To
\nall but her own vision lost and wild.<\/p>\n

Earth
\nin this beautiful refuge free from cares<\/p>\n

Murmured
\nto the soul a song of strength and peace.<\/p>\n

Only
\none sign was there of a human tread:<\/p>\n

A
\nsingle path, shot thin and arrowlike<\/p>\n

Into
\nthis bosom of vast and secret life,<\/p>\n

Pierced
\nits enormous dream of solitude. <\/p>\n

\n Page \u2013 392<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/div>\n

Here
\nfirst she met on the uncertain earth<\/p>\n

The
\none for whom her heart had come so far.<\/p>\n

As
\nmight a soul on Nature’s background limned<\/p>\n

Stand
\nout for a moment in a house of dream<\/p>\n

Created
\nby the ardent breath of life,<\/p>\n

So
\nhe appeared against the forest verge<\/p>\n

Inset
\ntwixt green relief and golden ray.<\/p>\n

As
\nif a weapon of the living Light,<\/p>\n

Erect
\nand lofty like a spear of God<\/p>\n

His
\nfigure led the splendour of the morn.<\/p>\n

Noble
\nand clear as the broad peaceful heavens<\/p>\n

A
\ntablet of young wisdom was his brow,<\/p>\n

Freedom’s
\nimperious beauty curved his limbs,<\/p>\n

The
\njoy of life was on his open face.<\/p>\n

His
\nlook was a wide daybreak of the gods,<\/p>\n

His
\nhead was a youthful Rishi’s touched with light,<\/p>\n

His
\nbody was a lover’s and a king’s.<\/p>\n

In
\nthe magnificent dawning of his force<\/p>\n

Built
\nlike a moving statue of delight<\/p>\n

He
\nillumined the border of the forest page.<\/p>\n

Out
\nof the ignorant eager toil of the years<\/p>\n

Abandoning
\nman’s loud drama he had come<\/p>\n

Led
\nby the wisdom of an adverse Fate<\/p>\n

To
\nmeet the ancient Mother in her groves.<\/p>\n

In
\nher divine communion he had grown<\/p>\n

A
\nfoster-child of beauty and solitude,<\/p>\n

Heir
\nto the centuries of the lonely wise,<\/p>\n

A
\nbrother of the sunshine and the sky,<\/p>\n

A
\nwanderer communing with depth and marge.<\/p>\n

A
\nVeda-knower of the unwritten book<\/p>\n

Perusing
\nthe mystic scripture of her forms,<\/p>\n

He
\nhad caught her hierophant significances,<\/p>\n

Her
\nsphered immense imaginations learned,<\/p>\n

Taught
\nby sublimities of stream and wood<\/p>\n

And
\nvoices of the sun and star and flame<\/p>\n

And
\nchant of the magic singers on the boughs <\/p>\n

\n Page \u2013 393<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/div>\n

And
\nthe dumb teaching of four-footed things.<\/p>\n

Helping
\nwith confident steps her slow great hands<\/p>\n

He
\nleaned to her influence like a flower to rain<\/p>\n

And,
\nlike the flower and tree a natural growth,<\/p>\n

Widened
\nwith the touches of her shaping hours.<\/p>\n

The
\nmastery free natures have was his<\/p>\n

And
\ntheir assent to joy and spacious calm;<\/p>\n

One
\nwith the single Spirit inhabiting all,<\/p>\n

He
\nlaid experience at the Godhead’s feet;<\/p>\n

His
\nmind was open to her infinite mind,<\/p>\n

His
\nacts were rhythmic with her primal force;<\/p>\n

He
\nhad subdued his mortal thought to hers.<\/p>\n

That
\nday he had turned from his accustomed paths;<\/p>\n

For
\nOne who, knowing every moment’s load,<\/p>\n

Can
\nmove in all our studied or careless steps,<\/p>\n

Had
\nlaid the spell of destiny on his feet<\/p>\n

And
\ndrawn him to the forest’s flowering verge.<\/p>\n

At
\nfirst her glance that took life’s million shapes<\/p>\n

Impartially
\nto people its treasure-house<\/p>\n

Along
\nwith sky and flower and hill and star,<\/p>\n

Dwelt
\nrather on the bright harmonious scene.<\/p>\n

It
\nsaw the green gold of the slumbrous sward,<\/p>\n

The
\ngrasses quivering with the slow wind’s tread,<\/p>\n

The
\nbranches haunted by the wild bird’s call.<\/p>\n

Awake
\nto Nature, vague as yet to life,<\/p>\n

The
\neager prisoner from the Infinite,<\/p>\n

The
\nimmortal wrestler in its mortal house,<\/p>\n

Its
\npride, power, passion of a striving God,<\/p>\n

It
\nsaw this image of veiled deity,<\/p>\n

This
\nthinking master creature of the earth,<\/p>\n

This
\nlast result of the beauty of the stars,<\/p>\n

But
\nonly saw like fair and common forms<\/p>\n

The
\nartist spirit needs not for its work<\/p>\n

And
\nputs aside in memory’s shadowy rooms.<\/p>\n

A
\nlook, a turn decides our ill-poised fate.<\/p>\n

Thus
\nin the hour that most concerned her all, <\/p>\n

\n Page \u2013 394<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/div>\n

Wandering
\nunwarned by the slow surface mind,<\/p>\n

The
\nheedless scout beneath her tenting lids<\/p>\n

Admired
\nindifferent beauty and cared not<\/p>\n

To
\nwake her body’s spirit to its king.<\/p>\n

So
\nmight she have passed by on chance ignorant roads<\/p>\n

Missing
\nthe call of Heaven, losing life’s aim,<\/p>\n

But
\nthe god touched in time her conscious soul.<\/p>\n

Her
\nvision settled, caught and all was changed.<\/p>\n

Her
\nmind at first dwelt in ideal dreams,<\/p>\n

Those
\nintimate transmuters of earth’s signs<\/p>\n

That
\nmake known things a hint of unseen spheres,<\/p>\n

And
\nsaw in him the genius of the spot,<\/p>\n

A
\nsymbol figure standing mid earth’s scenes,<\/p>\n

A
\nking of life outlined in delicate air.<\/p>\n

Yet
\nthis was but a moment’s reverie;<\/p>\n

For
\nsuddenly her heart looked out at him,<\/p>\n

The
\npassionate seeing used thought cannot match,<\/p>\n

And
\nknew one nearer than its own close strings.<\/p>\n

All
\nin a moment was surprised and seized,<\/p>\n

All
\nin inconscient ecstasy lain wrapped<\/p>\n

Or
\nunder imagination’s coloured lids<\/p>\n

Held
\nup in a large mirror-air of dream,<\/p>\n

Broke
\nforth in flame to recreate the world,<\/p>\n

And
\nin that flame to new things she was born.<\/p>\n

A
\nmystic tumult from her depths arose;<\/p>\n

Haled,
\nsmitten erect like one who dreamed at ease,<\/p>\n

Life
\nran to gaze from every gate of sense:<\/p>\n

Thoughts
\nindistinct and glad in moon-mist heavens,<\/p>\n

Feelings
\nas when a universe takes birth,<\/p>\n

Swept
\nthrough the turmoil of her bosom’s space<\/p>\n

Invaded
\nby a swarm of golden gods:<\/p>\n

Arising
\nto a hymn of wonder’s priests<\/p>\n

Her
\nsoul flung wide its doors to this new sun.<\/p>\n

An
\nalchemy worked, the transmutation came;<\/p>\n

The
\nmissioned face had wrought the Master’s spell.<\/p>\n

In
\nthe nameless light of two approching eyes <\/p>\n

\n Page \u2013 395<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/div>\n

A
\nswift and fated turning of her days<\/p>\n

Appeared
\nand stretched to the gleam of unknown worlds.<\/p>\n

Then
\ntrembling with the mystic shock her heart<\/p>\n

Moved
\nin her breast and cried out like a bird<\/p>\n

Who
\nhears his mate upon a neighbouring bough.<\/p>\n

Hooves
\ntrampling fast, wheels largely stumbling ceased;<\/p>\n

The
\nchariot stood like an arrested wind.<\/p>\n

And
\nSatyavan looked out from his soul’s doors<\/p>\n

And
\nfelt the enchantment of her liquid voice<\/p>\n

Fill
\nhis youth’s purple ambiance and endured<\/p>\n

The
\nhaunting miracle of a perfect face.<\/p>\n

Mastered
\nby the honey of a strange flower-mouth,<\/p>\n

Drawn
\nto soul-spaces opening round a brow,<\/p>\n

He
\nturned to the vision like a sea to the moon<\/p>\n

And
\nsuffered a dream of beauty and of change,<\/p>\n

Discovered
\nthe aureole round a mortal’s head,<\/p>\n

Adored
\na new divinity in things.<\/p>\n

His
\nself-bound nature foundered as in fire;<\/p>\n

His
\nlife was taken into another’s life.<\/p>\n

The
\nsplendid lonely idols of his brain<\/p>\n

Fell
\nprostrate from their bright sufficiencies,<\/p>\n

As
\nat the touch of a new infinite,<\/p>\n

To
\nworship a godhead greater than their own.<\/p>\n

An
\nunknown imperious force drew him to her.<\/p>\n

Marvelling
\nhe came across the golden sward:<\/p>\n

Gaze
\nmet close gaze and clung in sight’s embrace.<\/p>\n

A
\nvisage was there, noble and great and calm,<\/p>\n

As
\nif encircled by a halo of thought,<\/p>\n

A
\nspan, an arch of meditating light,<\/p>\n

As
\nthough some secret nimbus half was seen;<\/p>\n

Her
\ninner vision still remembering knew<\/p>\n

A
\nforehead that wore the crown of all her past,<\/p>\n

Two
\neyes her constant and eternal stars,<\/p>\n

Comrade
\nand sovereign eyes that claimed her soul,<\/p>\n

Lids
\nknown through many lives, large frames of love.<\/p>\n

He
\nmet in her regard his future’s gaze, <\/p>\n

\n Page \u2013 396<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/div>\n

A
\npromise and a presence and a fire,<\/p>\n

Saw
\nan embodiment of aeonic dreams,<\/p>\n

A
\nmystery of the rapture for which all<\/p>\n

Yearns
\nin this world of brief mortality<\/p>\n

Made
\nin material shape his very own.<\/p>\n

This
\ngolden figure given to his grasp<\/p>\n

Hid
\nin its breast the key of all his aims,<\/p>\n

A
\nspell to bring the Immortal’s bliss on earth,<\/p>\n

To
\nmate with heaven’s truth our mortal thought,<\/p>\n

To
\nlift earth-hearts nearer the Eternal’s sun.<\/p>\n

In
\nthese great spirits now incarnate here<\/p>\n

Love
\nbrought down power out of eternity<\/p>\n

To
\nmake of life his new undying base.<\/p>\n

His
\npassion surged a wave from fathomless deeps;<\/p>\n

It
\nleapt to earth from far forgotten heights,<\/p>\n

But
\nkept its nature of infinity.<\/p>\n

On
\nthe dumb bosom of this oblivious globe<\/p>\n

Although
\nas unknown beings we seem to meet,<\/p>\n

Our
\nlives are not aliens nor as strangers join,<\/p>\n

Moved
\nto each other by a causeless force.<\/p>\n

The
\nsoul can recognise its answering soul<\/p>\n

Across
\ndividing Time and, on Life’s roads<\/p>\n

Absorbed
\nwrapped traveller, turning it recovers<\/p>\n

Familiar
\nsplendours in an unknown face<\/p>\n

And
\ntouched by the warning finger of swift love<\/p>\n

It
\nthrills again to an immortal joy<\/p>\n

Wearing
\na mortal body for delight.<\/p>\n

There
\nis a Power within that knows beyond<\/p>\n

Our
\nknowings; we are greater than our thoughts,<\/p>\n

And
\nsometimes earth unveils that vision here.<\/p>\n

To
\nlive, to love are signs of infinite things,<\/p>\n

Love
\nis a glory from eternity’s spheres.<\/p>\n

Abased,
\ndisfigured, mocked by baser mights<\/p>\n

That
\nsteal his name and shape and ecstasy,<\/p>\n

He
\nis still the Godhead by which all can change.<\/p>\n

A
\nmystery wakes in our inconscient stuff, <\/p>\n

\n Page \u2013 397<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/div>\n

A
\nbliss is born that can remake our life.<\/p>\n

Love
\ndwells in us like an unopened flower<\/p>\n

Awaiting
\na rapid moment of the soul,<\/p>\n

Or
\nhe roams in his charmed sleep mid thoughts and things;<\/p>\n

The
\nchild-god is at play, he seeks himself<\/p>\n

In
\nmany hearts and minds and living forms:<\/p>\n

He
\nlingers for a sign that he can know<\/p>\n

And,
\nwhen it comes, wakes blindly to a voice,<\/p>\n

A
\nlook, a touch, the meaning of a face.<\/p>\n

His
\ninstrument the dim corporeal mind,<\/p>\n

Of
\ncelestial insight now forgetful grown,<\/p>\n

He
\nseizes on some sign of outward charm<\/p>\n

To
\nguide him mid the throng of Nature’s hints,<\/p>\n

Reads
\nheavenly truths into earth’s semblances,<\/p>\n

Desires
\nthe image for the Godhead’s sake,<\/p>\n

Divines
\nthe immortalities of form<\/p>\n

And
\ntakes the body for the sculptured soul.<\/p>\n

Love’s
\nadoration like a mystic seer<\/p>\n

Through
\nvision looks at the invisible,<\/p>\n

In
\nearth’s alphabet finds a Godlike sense;<\/p>\n

But
\nthe mind only thinks, \u201cBehold the one<\/p>\n

For
\nwhom my life has waited long unfilled,<\/p>\n

Behold
\nthe sudden sovereign of my days.\u201d<\/p>\n

Heart
\nfeels for heart, limb cries for answering limb;<\/p>\n

All
\nstrives to enforce the unity all is.<\/p>\n

Too
\nfar from the Divine, Love seeks his truth<\/p>\n

And
\nlife is blind and the instruments deceive<\/p>\n

And
\nPowers are there that labour to debase.<\/p>\n

Still
\ncan the vision come, the joy arrive.<\/p>\n

Rare
\nis the cup fit for love’s nectar wine,<\/p>\n

As
\nrare the vessel that can hold God’s birth;<\/p>\n

A
\nsoul made ready through a thousand years<\/p>\n

Is
\nthe living mould of a supreme Descent.<\/p>\n

These
\nknew each other though in forms thus strange.<\/p>\n

Although
\nto sight unknown, although life, mind<\/p>\n

Had
\naltered to hold a new significance, <\/p>\n

\n Page \u2013 398<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/div>\n

These
\nbodies summed the drift of numberless births<\/p>\n

And
\nthe spirit to the spirit was the same.<\/p>\n

Amazed
\nby a joy for which they had waited long,<\/p>\n

The
\nlovers met upon their different paths,<\/p>\n

Travellers
\nacross the limitless plains of Time<\/p>\n

Together
\ndrawn from fate-led journeyings<\/p>\n

In
\nthe self-closed solitude of their human past,<\/p>\n

To a
\nswift rapturous dream of future joy<\/p>\n

And
\nthe unexpected present of these eyes.<\/p>\n

By
\nthe revealing greatness of a look,<\/p>\n

Form-smitten
\nthe spirit’s memory woke in sense.<\/p>\n

The
\nmist was torn that lay between two lives;<\/p>\n

Her
\nheart unveiled and his to find her turned;<\/p>\n

Attracted
\nas in heaven star by star,<\/p>\n

They
\nwondered at each other and rejoiced<\/p>\n

And
\nwove affinity in a silent gaze.<\/p>\n

A
\nmoment passed that was eternity’s ray,<\/p>\n

An
\nhour began, the matrix of new Time.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

End of Canto Two <\/p>\n

\n Page \u2013 399<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/td>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Canto Two    Satyavan    All she remembered on this day of Fate, The road that hazarded not the solemn depths But turned away…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-29-savitri-volume-29","wpcat-22-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1021","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1021"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1021\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}