{"id":1025,"date":"2013-07-13T01:32:05","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:32:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=1025"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:32:05","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:32:05","slug":"09-book-6-canto-01-the-word-of-fate-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\/09-book-6-canto-01-the-word-of-fate-vol-29-savitri-volume-29","title":{"rendered":"-09_Book 6 Canto 01 The Word of Fate.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"
Book Six<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

The Book of Fate<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n

 <\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n
\n

 Canto One<\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Word of Fate<\/font><\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In
\nsilent bounds bordering the mortal’s plane<\/p>\n

Crossing
\na wide expanse of brilliant peace<\/p>\n

Narad
\nthe heavenly sage from Paradise<\/p>\n

Came
\nchanting through the large and lustrous air.<\/p>\n

Attracted
\nby the golden summer-earth<\/p>\n

That
\nlay beneath him like a glowing bowl<\/p>\n

Tilted
\nupon a table of the Gods,<\/p>\n

Turning
\nas if moved round by an unseen hand<\/p>\n

To
\ncatch the warmth and blaze of a small sun,<\/p>\n

He
\npassed from the immortal’s happy paths<\/p>\n

To a
\nworld of toil and quest and grief and hope,<\/p>\n

To
\nthese rooms of a see-saw game of death and life.<\/p>\n

Across
\nan intangible border of soul-space<\/p>\n

He
\npassed from Mind into material things<\/p>\n

Amid
\nthe inventions of the inconscient Self<\/p>\n

And
\nthe workings of a blind somnambulist Force.<\/p>\n

Below
\nhim circling burned the myriad suns:<\/p>\n

He
\nbore the ripples of the etheric sea;<\/p>\n

A
\nprimal Air brought the first joy of touch;<\/p>\n

A
\nsecret Spirit drew its mighty breath,<\/p>\n

Contracting
\nand expanding this huge world;<\/p>\n

The
\nsecret might of the creative fire<\/p>\n

Displayed
\nits triple power to build and form,<\/p>\n

Its
\ninfinitesimal wave-sparks’ weaving dance,<\/p>\n

Its
\nnebulous units grounding shape and mass,<\/p>\n

Magic
\nfoundation and pattern of a world,<\/p>\n

Its
\nradiance bursting into the light of stars;<\/p>\n

He
\nfelt a sap of life, a sap of death;<\/p>\n

Into
\nsolid Matter’s dense communion<\/p>\n

Plunging
\nand its obscure oneness of forms<\/p>\n

He
\nshared with a dumb Spirit identity. <\/p>\n

\n Page \u2013 415<\/span><\/p>\n

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

He
\nbeheld the cosmic Being at his task,<\/p>\n

His
\neyes measured the spaces, gauged the depths,<\/p>\n

His
\ninner gaze the movements of the soul,<\/p>\n

He
\nsaw the eternal labour of the Gods,<\/p>\n

And
\nlooked upon the life of beasts and men.<\/p>\n

A
\nchange now fell upon the singer’s mood,<\/p>\n

A
\nrapture and a pathos moved his voice;<\/p>\n

He
\nsang no more of light that never wanes,<\/p>\n

And
\noneness and pure everlasting bliss,<\/p>\n

He
\nsang no more the deathless heart of love,<\/p>\n

His
\nchant was a hymn of Ignorance and Fate.<\/p>\n

He
\nsang the name of Vishnu and the birth<\/p>\n

And
\njoy and passion of the mystic world,<\/p>\n

And
\nhow the stars were made and life began<\/p>\n

And
\nthe mute regions stirred with the throb of a soul.<\/p>\n

He
\nsang the Inconscient and its secret self,<\/p>\n

Its
\npower omnipotent knowing not what it does,<\/p>\n

All
\nshaping without will or thought or sense,<\/p>\n

Its
\nblind unerring occult mystery,<\/p>\n

And
\ndarkness yearning towards the eternal Light,<\/p>\n

And
\nLove that broods within the dim abyss<\/p>\n

And
\nwaits the answer of the human heart,<\/p>\n

And
\ndeath that climbs to immortality.<\/p>\n

He
\nsang of the Truth that cries from Night’s blind deeps,<\/p>\n

And
\nthe Mother Wisdom hid in Nature’s breast<\/p>\n

And
\nthe Idea that through her dumbness works<\/p>\n

And
\nthe miracle of her transforming hands,<\/p>\n

Of
\nlife that slumbers in the stone and sun<\/p>\n

And
\nmind subliminal in mindless life,<\/p>\n

And
\nthe consciousness that wakes in beasts and men.<\/p>\n

He
\nsang of the glory and marvel still to be born,<\/p>\n

Of
\nthe Godhead throwing off at last its veil,<\/p>\n

Of
\nbodies made divine and life made bliss,<\/p>\n

Immortal
\nsweetness clasping immortal might,<\/p>\n

Heart
\nsensing heart, thought looking straight at thought,<\/p>\n

And
\nthe delight when every barrier falls, <\/p>\n

\n Page \u2013 416<\/span><\/p>\n

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

And
\nthe transfiguration and the ecstasy.<\/p>\n

And
\nas he sang the demons wept with joy<\/p>\n

Foreseeing
\nthe end of their long dreadful task<\/p>\n

And
\nthe defeat for which they hoped in vain,<\/p>\n

And
\nglad release from their self-chosen doom<\/p>\n

And
\nreturn into the One from whom they came.<\/p>\n

He
\nwho has conquered the immortals’ seats,<\/p>\n

Came
\ndown to men on earth the Man divine.<\/p>\n

As
\nmight a lightning streak, a glory fell<\/p>\n

Nearing
\nuntil the rapt eyes of the sage<\/p>\n

Looked
\nout from luminous cloud and, strangely limned,<\/p>\n

His
\nface, a beautiful mask of antique joy,<\/p>\n

Appearing
\nin light descended where arose<\/p>\n

King
\nAswapathy’s palace to the winds<\/p>\n

In
\nMadra, flowering up in delicate stone.<\/p>\n

There
\nwelcomed him the sage and thoughtful king,<\/p>\n

At
\nhis side a creature beautiful, passionate, wise,<\/p>\n

Aspiring
\nlike a sacrificial flame<\/p>\n

Skyward
\nfrom its earth-seat through luminous air,<\/p>\n

Queen-browed,
\nthe human mother of Savitri.<\/p>\n

There
\nfor an hour untouched by the earth’s siege<\/p>\n

They
\nceased from common life and care and sat<\/p>\n

Inclining
\nto the high and rhythmic voice,<\/p>\n

While
\nin his measured chant the heavenly seer<\/p>\n

Spoke
\nof the toils of men and what the gods<\/p>\n

Strive
\nfor on earth, and joy that throbs behind<\/p>\n

The
\nmarvel and the mystery of pain.<\/p>\n

He
\nsang to them of the lotus-heart of love<\/p>\n

With
\nall its thousand luminous buds of truth,<\/p>\n

Which
\nquivering sleeps veiled by apparent things.<\/p>\n

It
\ntrembles at each touch, it strives to wake<\/p>\n

And
\none day it shall hear a blissful voice<\/p>\n

And
\nin the garden of the Spouse shall bloom<\/p>\n

When
\nshe is seized by her discovered lord.<\/p>\n

A
\nmighty shuddering coil of ecstasy<\/p>\n

Crept
\nthrough the deep heart of the universe. <\/p>\n

\n Page \u2013 417<\/span><\/p>\n

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

Out
\nof her Matter’s stupor, her mind’s dreams,<\/p>\n

She
\nwoke, she looked upon God’s unveiled face.<\/p>\n

 Even
\nas he sang and rapture stole through earth-time<\/p>\n

And
\ncaught the heavens, came with a call of hooves,<\/p>\n

As
\nof her swift heart hastening, Savitri;<\/p>\n

Her
\nradiant tread glimmered across the floor.<\/p>\n

A
\nhappy wonder in her fathomless gaze,<\/p>\n

Changed
\nby the halo of her love she came;<\/p>\n

Her
\neyes rich with a shining mist of joy<\/p>\n

As
\none who comes from a heavenly embassy<\/p>\n

Discharging
\nthe proud mission of her heart,<\/p>\n

One
\ncarrying the sanction of the gods<\/p>\n

To
\nher love and its luminous eternity,<\/p>\n

She
\nstood before her mighty father’s throne<\/p>\n

And,
\neager for beauty on discovered earth<\/p>\n

Transformed
\nand new in her heart’s miracle-light,<\/p>\n

Saw
\nlike a rose of marvel, worshipping,<\/p>\n

The
\nfiery sweetness of the son of Heaven.<\/p>\n

He
\nflung on her his vast immortal look;<\/p>\n

His
\ninner gaze surrounded her with its light<\/p>\n

And
\nreining back knowledge from his immortal lips<\/p>\n

He
\ncried to her, \u201cWho is this that comes, the bride,<\/p>\n

The
\nflame-born, and round her illumined head<\/p>\n

Pouring
\ntheir lights her hymeneal pomps<\/p>\n

Move
\nflashing about her? From what green glimmer of glades<\/p>\n

Retreating
\ninto dewy silences<\/p>\n

Or
\nhalf-seen verge of waters moon-betrayed<\/p>\n

Bringst
\nthou this glory of enchanted eyes?<\/p>\n

Earth
\nhas gold-hued expanses, shadowy hills<\/p>\n

That
\ncowl their dreaming phantom heads in night,<\/p>\n

And
\nguarded in a cloistral joy of woods,<\/p>\n

Screened
\nbanks sink down into felicity<\/p>\n

Seized
\nby the curved incessant yearning hands<\/p>\n

And
\nripple-passion of the up-gazing stream:<\/p>\n

Amid
\ncool-lipped murmurs of its pure embrace<\/p>\n

They
\nlose their souls on beds of trembling reeds. <\/p>\n

\n Page \u2013 418<\/span><\/p>\n

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

And
\nall these are mysterious presences<\/p>\n

In
\nwhich some spirit’s immortal bliss is felt,<\/p>\n

And
\nthey betray the earth-born heart to joy.<\/p>\n

There
\nhast thou paused, and marvelling borne eyes<\/p>\n

Unknown,
\nor heard a voice that forced thy life<\/p>\n

To
\nstrain its rapture through thy listening soul?<\/p>\n

Or,
\nif my thought could trust this shimmering gaze,<\/p>\n

It
\nwould say: thou hast not drunk from an earthly cup,<\/p>\n

But
\nstepping through azure curtains of the morn<\/p>\n

Thou
\nwast surrounded on a magic verge<\/p>\n

In
\nbrighter countries than man’s eyes can bear.<\/p>\n

Assailed
\nby trooping voices of delight<\/p>\n

And
\nseized mid a sunlit glamour of the boughs<\/p>\n

In
\nfaery woods, led down the gleaming slopes<\/p>\n

Of
\nGundhamadan where the Apsaras roam,<\/p>\n

Thy
\nlimbs have shared the sports which none has seen,<\/p>\n

And
\nin god-haunts thy human footsteps strayed,<\/p>\n

Thy
\nmortal bosom quivered with god-speech<\/p>\n

And
\nthy soul answered to a Word unknown.<\/p>\n

What
\nfeet of gods, what ravishing flutes of heaven<\/p>\n

Have
\nthrilled high melodies round, from near and far<\/p>\n

Approaching
\nthrough the soft and revelling air,<\/p>\n

Which
\nstill surprised thou hearest? They have fed<\/p>\n

Thy
\nsilence on some red strange-ecstasied fruit<\/p>\n

And
\nthou hast trod the dim moon-peaks of bliss.<\/p>\n

Reveal,
\nO winged with light, whence thou hast flown<\/p>\n

Hastening
\nbright-hued through the green-tangled earth,<\/p>\n

Thy
\nbody rhythmical with the spring-bird’s call.<\/p>\n

The
\nempty roses of thy hands are filled<\/p>\n

Only
\nwith their own beauty and the thrill<\/p>\n

Of a
\nremembered clasp, and in thee glows<\/p>\n

A
\nheavenly jar, thy firm deep-honied heart,<\/p>\n

New-brimming
\nwith a sweet and nectarous wine.<\/p>\n

Thou
\nhast not spoken with the kings of pain.<\/p>\n

Life’s
\nperilous music rings yet to thy ear<\/p>\n

Far-melodied,
\nrapid, grand, a Centaur’s song, <\/p>\n

\n Page \u2013 419<\/span><\/p>\n

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

Or
\nsoft as water plashing mid the hills,<\/p>\n

Or
\nmighty as a great chant of many winds.<\/p>\n

Moon-bright
\nthou livest in thy inner bliss.<\/p>\n

Thou
\ncomest like a silver deer through groves<\/p>\n

Of
\ncoral flowers and buds of glowing dreams,<\/p>\n

Or
\nfleest like a wind-goddess through leaves,<\/p>\n

Or
\nroamest, O ruby-eyed and snow-winged dove,<\/p>\n

Flitting
\nthrough thickets of thy pure desires<\/p>\n

In
\nthe unwounded beauty of thy soul.<\/p>\n

These
\nthings are only images to thy earth,<\/p>\n

But
\ntruest truth of that which in thee sleeps.<\/p>\n

For
\nsuch is thy spirit, a sister of the gods,<\/p>\n

Thy
\nearthly body lovely to the eyes,<\/p>\n

And
\nthou art kin in joy to heaven’s sons.<\/p>\n

O
\nthou who hast come to this great perilous world<\/p>\n

Now
\nonly seen through the splendour of thy dreams,<\/p>\n

Where
\nhardly love and beauty can live safe,<\/p>\n

Thyself
\na being dangerously great,<\/p>\n

A
\nsoul alone in a golden house of thought<\/p>\n

Has
\nlived walled in by the safety of thy dreams.<\/p>\n

On
\nheights of happiness leaving doom asleep<\/p>\n

Who
\nhunts unseen the unconscious lives of men,<\/p>\n

If
\nthy heart could live locked in the ideal’s gold,<\/p>\n

As
\nhigh, as happy might thy waking be!<\/p>\n

If
\nfor all time doom could be left to sleep!\u201d<\/p>\n

He spoke
\nbut held his knowledge back from words.<\/p>\n

As a
\ncloud plays with lightning’s vivid laugh,<\/p>\n

But
\nstill holds back the thunder in its heart,<\/p>\n

Only
\nhe let bright images escape.<\/p>\n

His
\nspeech like glimmering music veiled his thoughts;<\/p>\n

Pitiful
\nto mortals, only to them it spoke<\/p>\n

As a
\nwind flatters the bright summer air,<\/p>\n

Of
\nliving beauty and of present bliss:<\/p>\n

He
\nhid in his all-knowing mind the rest.<\/p>\n

To
\nthose who hearkened to his celestial voice,<\/p>\n

The
\nveil heaven’s pity throws on future pain <\/p>\n

\n Page \u2013 420<\/span><\/p>\n

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

The
\nImmortals’ sanction seemed of endless joy.<\/p>\n

But
\nAswapathy answered to the seer;<\/p>\n

His
\nlistening mind had marked the dubious close,<\/p>\n

An
\nominous shadow felt behind the worlds,<\/p>\n

But
\ncalm like one who ever sits facing Fate<\/p>\n

Here
\nmid the dangerous contours of earth’s life,<\/p>\n

He
\nanswered covert thought with guarded speech:<\/p>\n

\u201cO
\ndeathless sage who knowest all things here,<\/p>\n

If I
\ncould read by the ray of my own wish<\/p>\n

Through
\nthe carved shield of symbol images<\/p>\n

Which
\nthou hast thrown before thy heavenly mind<\/p>\n

I
\nmight see the steps of a young godlike life<\/p>\n

Happily
\nbeginning luminous-eyed on earth;<\/p>\n

Between
\nthe Unknowable and the Unseen<\/p>\n

Born
\non the borders of two wonder-worlds,<\/p>\n

It
\nflames out symbols of the Infinite<\/p>\n

And
\nlives in a great light of inner suns.<\/p>\n

For
\nit has read and broken the hidden seals,<\/p>\n

It
\nhas drunk of the Immortal’s wells of joy,<\/p>\n

It
\nhas looked across the jewel bars of heaven,<\/p>\n

It
\nhas entered the aspiring Secrecy,<\/p>\n

It
\nsees beyond terrestrial common things<\/p>\n

And
\ncommunes with the Powers that build the worlds,<\/p>\n

Till
\nthrough the shining gates and mystic streets<\/p>\n

Of
\nthe city of lapis lazuli and pearl<\/p>\n

Proud
\ndeeds step forth a rank and march of gods.<\/p>\n

Although
\nin pauses of our human lives<\/p>\n

Earth
\nkeeps for man some short and perfect hours<\/p>\n

When
\nthe inconscient tread of Time can seem<\/p>\n

The
\neternal moment which the deathless live,<\/p>\n

Yet
\nrare that touch upon the mortal’s world:<\/p>\n

Hardly
\na soul and body here are born<\/p>\n

In
\nthe fierce difficult movement of the stars,<\/p>\n

Whose
\nlife can keep the paradisal note,<\/p>\n

Its
\nrhythm repeat the many-toned melody<\/p>\n

Tirelessly
\nthrobbing through the rapturous air <\/p>\n

\n Page \u2013 421<\/span><\/p>\n

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

Caught
\nin the song that sways the Apsara’s limbs<\/p>\n

When
\nshe floats gleaming like a cloud of light,<\/p>\n

A
\nwave of joy on heaven’s moon-stone floor.<\/p>\n

Behold
\nthis image cast by light and love,<\/p>\n

A
\nstanza of the ardour of the gods<\/p>\n

Perfectly
\nrhymed, a pillared ripple of gold!<\/p>\n

Her
\nbody like a brimmed pitcher of delight<\/p>\n

Shaped
\nin a splendour of gold-coloured bronze<\/p>\n

As
\nif to seize earth’s truth of hidden bliss.<\/p>\n

Dream-made
\nillumined mirrors are her eyes<\/p>\n

Draped
\nsubtly in a slumberous fringe of jet,<\/p>\n

Retaining
\nheaven’s reflections in their depths.<\/p>\n

Even
\nas her body, such is she within,<\/p>\n

Heaven’s
\nlustrous mornings gloriously recur,<\/p>\n

Like
\ndrops of fire upon a silver page,<\/p>\n

In
\nher young spirit yet untouched with tears.<\/p>\n

All
\nbeautiful things eternal seem and new<\/p>\n

To
\nvirgin wonder in her crystal soul.<\/p>\n

The
\nunchanging blue reveals its spacious thought;<\/p>\n

Marvellous
\nthe moon floats on through wondering skies;<\/p>\n

Earth’s
\nflowers spring up and laugh at time and death;<\/p>\n

The
\ncharmed mutations of the enchanter life<\/p>\n

Race
\nlike bright children past the smiling hours.<\/p>\n

If
\nbut this joy of life could last, nor pain<\/p>\n

Throw
\nits bronze note into her rhythmed days!<\/p>\n

Behold
\nher, singer with the prescient gaze,<\/p>\n

And
\nlet thy blessing chant that this fair child<\/p>\n

Shall
\npour the nectar of a sorrowless life<\/p>\n

Around
\nher from her lucid heart of love,<\/p>\n

Heal
\nwith her bliss the tired breast of earth<\/p>\n

And
\ncast like a happy snare felicity.<\/p>\n

As
\ngrows the great and golden bounteous tree<\/p>\n

Flowering
\nby Alacananda’s murmuring waves,<\/p>\n

Where
\nwith enamoured speed the waters run<\/p>\n

Lisping
\nand babbling to the splendour of morn<\/p>\n

And
\ncling with lyric laughter round the knees <\/p>\n

\n Page \u2013 422<\/span><\/p>\n

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

Of
\nheaven’s daughters dripping magic rain<\/p>\n

Pearl-bright
\nfrom moon-gold limbs and cloudy hair,<\/p>\n

So
\nare her dawns like jewelled leaves of light,<\/p>\n

So
\ncasts she her felicity on men.<\/p>\n

A
\nflame of radiant happiness she was born,<\/p>\n

And
\nsurely will that flame set earth alight:<\/p>\n

Doom
\nsurely will see her pass and say no word,<\/p>\n

But
\ntoo often here the careless Mother leaves<\/p>\n

Her
\nchosen in the envious hands of Fate:<\/p>\n

The
\nharp of God falls mute, its call to bliss<\/p>\n

Discouraged
\nfails mid earth’s unhappy sounds;<\/p>\n

The
\nstrings of the siren Ecstasy cry not here<\/p>\n

Or
\nsoon are silenced in the human heart.<\/p>\n

Of
\nsorrow’s songs we have enough: bid once<\/p>\n

Her
\nglad and griefless days ring heaven here.<\/p>\n

Or
\nmust fire always test the great of soul?<\/p>\n

Along
\nthe dreadful causeway of the gods,<\/p>\n

Armoured
\nwith love and faith and sacred joy,<\/p>\n

A
\ntraveller to the Eternal’s house<\/p>\n

Once
\nlet unwounded pass a mortal life.\u201d<\/p>\n

But
\nNarad answered not; silent he sat,<\/p>\n

Knowing
\nthat words are vain and Fate is lord.<\/p>\n

He
\nlooked into the unseen with seeing eyes,<\/p>\n

Then,
\ndallying with the mortal’s ignorance<\/p>\n

Like
\none who knows not, questioning, he cried:<\/p>\n

\u201cOn
\nwhat high mission went her hastening wheels?<\/p>\n

Whence
\ncame she with this glory in her heart<\/p>\n

And
\nParadise made visible in her eyes?<\/p>\n

What
\nsudden God has met, what face supreme?\u201d<\/p>\n

To
\nwhom the king, \u201cThe red asoca watched<\/p>\n

Her
\ngoing forth which now sees her return.<\/p>\n

Arisen
\ninto an air of flaming dawn<\/p>\n

Like
\na bright bird tired of her lonely branch<\/p>\n

To
\nfind her own lord, since to her on earth<\/p>\n

He
\ncame not yet, this sweetness wandered forth<\/p>\n

Cleaving
\nher way with the beat of her rapid wings. <\/p>\n

\n Page \u2013 423<\/span><\/p>\n

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

Led
\nby a distant call her vague swift flight<\/p>\n

Threaded
\nthe summer morns and sunlit lands.<\/p>\n

The
\nhappy rest her burdened lashes keep<\/p>\n

And
\nthese charmed guardian lips hold treasured still.<\/p>\n

Virgin
\nwho comest perfected by joy,<\/p>\n

Reveal
\nthe name thy sudden heart-beats learned.<\/p>\n

Whom
\nhast thou chosen kingliest among men?\u201d<\/p>\n

And
\nSavitri answered with her still calm voice<\/p>\n

As
\none who speaks beneath the eyes of Fate:<\/p>\n

\u201cFather
\nand king, I have carried out thy will,<\/p>\n

One
\nwhom I sought I found in distant lands;<\/p>\n

I
\nhave obeyed my heart, I have heard its call.<\/p>\n

On
\nthe borders of a dreaming wilderness<\/p>\n

Mid
\nShalwa’s giant hills and brooding woods,<\/p>\n

In
\nhis thatched hermitage Dyumathsena dwells,<\/p>\n

Blind,
\nexiled, outcast, once a mighty king.<\/p>\n

The
\nson of Dyumathsena, Satyavan<\/p>\n

I
\nhave met on the wild forest’s lonely verge.<\/p>\n

My
\nfather, I have chosen. This is done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Astonished,
\nall sat silent for a space.<\/p>\n

Then
\nAswapathy looked within and saw<\/p>\n

A
\nheavy shadow float above the name<\/p>\n

Chased
\nby a sudden and stupendous light;<\/p>\n

He
\nlooked into his daughter’s eyes and spoke:<\/p>\n

\u201cWell
\nhast thou done and I approve thy choice.<\/p>\n

If
\nthis is all, then all is surely well;<\/p>\n

If
\nthere is more, then all can still be well.<\/p>\n

Whether
\nit seem good or evil to men’s eyes,<\/p>\n

Only
\nfor good the secret Will can work.<\/p>\n

Our
\ndestiny is written in double terms:<\/p>\n

Through
\nNature’s contraries we draw near God;<\/p>\n

Out
\nof the darkness we still grow to light.<\/p>\n

Death
\nis our road to immortality.<\/p>\n

\u2018Cry
\nwoe, cry woe,\u2019 the world’s lost voices wail,<\/p>\n

Yet
\nconquers the eternal Good at last.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then
\nmight the sage have spoken, but the king <\/p>\n

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

In
\nhaste broke out and stayed the dangerous word:<\/p>\n

\u201cO
\nsinger of the ultimate ecstasy,<\/p>\n

Lend
\nnot a dangerous vision to the blind,<\/p>\n

Because
\nby native right thou hast seen clear.<\/p>\n

Impose
\nnot on the mortal’s tremulous breast<\/p>\n

The
\ndire ordeal that foreknowledge brings;<\/p>\n

Demand
\nnot now the godhead in our acts.<\/p>\n

Here
\nare not happy peaks the heaven-nymphs roam,<\/p>\n

Or
\nCoilas or Vaicountha’s starry stair,<\/p>\n

Abrupt
\njagged hills only the mighty climb<\/p>\n

Are
\nhere where few dare even think to rise;<\/p>\n

Far
\nvoices call down from the dizzy rocks,<\/p>\n

Chill,
\nslippery, precipitous are the paths.<\/p>\n

Too
\nhard the gods are with man’s fragile race,<\/p>\n

In
\ntheir large heavens they dwell exempt from Fate<\/p>\n

And
\nthey forget the wounded feet of man,<\/p>\n

His
\nlimbs that faint beneath the whips of grief,<\/p>\n

His
\nheart that hears the tread of time and death,<\/p>\n

The
\nfuture’s road is hid from mortal sight:<\/p>\n

He
\nmoves towards a veiled and secret face.<\/p>\n

To
\nlight one step in front is all his hope<\/p>\n

And
\nonly for a little strength he asks<\/p>\n

To
\nmeet the riddle of his shrouded fate.<\/p>\n

Awaited
\nby a vague and half-seen force,<\/p>\n

Aware
\nof danger to his uncertain hours<\/p>\n

He
\nguards his flickering yearnings from her breath;<\/p>\n

He
\nfeels not when the dreadful fingers close<\/p>\n

Around
\nhim with the grasp none can elude.<\/p>\n

If
\nthou canst loose her grip then only speak,<\/p>\n

Perhaps
\nfrom the iron snare there is escape:<\/p>\n

Our
\nmind perhaps deceives us with its words<\/p>\n

And
\ngives the name of doom to our own choice;<\/p>\n

Perhaps
\nthe blindness of our will is Fate.\u201d<\/p>\n

He
\nsaid and Narad answered not the king.<\/p>\n

But
\nnow the queen alarmed lifted her voice:<\/p>\n

\u201cO
\nseer, thy bright arrival has been timed <\/p>\n

\n Page \u2013 425<\/span><\/p>\n

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

To
\nthis high moment of a happy life.<\/p>\n

Then
\nlet the speech benign of griefless spheres<\/p>\n

Confirm
\nthis blithe conjunction of two stars<\/p>\n

And
\nsanction joy with thy celestial voice.<\/p>\n

Here
\ndrag not in the peril of our thoughts,<\/p>\n

Let
\nnot our words create the doom they fear.<\/p>\n

Here
\nis no cause for dread, no chance for grief<\/p>\n

To
\nraise her ominous head and stare at love:<\/p>\n

A
\nsingle spirit in a multitude,<\/p>\n

Happy
\nis Satyavan mid earthly men<\/p>\n

Whom
\nSavitri has chosen for her mate,<\/p>\n

And
\nfortunate the forest hermitage<\/p>\n

Where
\nleaving her palace and riches and a throne<\/p>\n

My
\nSavitri will dwell and bring in heaven.<\/p>\n

Then
\nlet thy blessing put the immortals’ seal<\/p>\n

On
\nthese bright lives’ unstained felicity<\/p>\n

Pushing
\nthe ominous Shadow from their days.<\/p>\n

Too
\nheavy falls a Shadow on man’s heart;<\/p>\n

It
\ndares not be too happy upon earth.<\/p>\n

It
\ndreads the blow dogging too vivid joys,<\/p>\n

A
\nlash unseen in Fate’s extended hand,<\/p>\n

The
\ndanger lurking in fortune’s proud extremes,<\/p>\n

An
\nirony in life’s indulgent smile,<\/p>\n

And
\ntrembles at the laughter of the gods.<\/p>\n

Or
\nif crouches unseen a panther doom,<\/p>\n

If
\nwings of Evil brood above that house,<\/p>\n

Then
\nalso speak, that we may turn aside<\/p>\n

And
\nrescue our lives from hazard of wayside doom<\/p>\n

And
\nchance entanglement of an alien fate.\u201d<\/p>\n

And
\nNarad slowly answered to the queen:<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat
\nhelp is in prevision to the driven?<\/p>\n

Safe
\ndoors cry opening near, the doomed pass on.<\/p>\n

A
\nfuture knowledge is an added pain,<\/p>\n

A
\ntorturing burden and a fruitless light<\/p>\n

On
\nthe enormous scene that Fate has built.<\/p>\n

The
\neternal poet, universal Mind, <\/p>\n

\n Page \u2013 426<\/span><\/p>\n

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

Has
\npaged each line of his imperial act;<\/p>\n

Invisible
\nthe giant actors tread<\/p>\n

And
\nman lives like some secret player’s mask.<\/p>\n

He
\nknows not even what his lips shall speak.<\/p>\n

For
\na mysterious Power compels his steps<\/p>\n

And
\nlife is stronger than his trembling soul.<\/p>\n

None
\ncan refuse what the stark Force demands,<\/p>\n

Her
\neyes are fixed upon her mighty aim;<\/p>\n

No
\ncry or prayer can turn her from her path,<\/p>\n

She
\nhas leaped an arrow from the bow of God.\u201d<\/p>\n

His
\nwords were theirs who live unforced to grieve<\/p>\n

And
\nhelp by calm the swaying wheels of life<\/p>\n

And
\nthe long restlessness of transient things<\/p>\n

And
\nthe trouble and passion of the unquiet world.<\/p>\n

As
\nthough her own bosom were pierced the mother saw<\/p>\n

The
\nancient human sentence strike her child,<\/p>\n

Her
\nsweetness that deserved another fate<\/p>\n

Only
\na larger measure given of tears.<\/p>\n

Aspiring
\nto the nature of the gods,<\/p>\n

A
\nmind proof-armoured mailed in mighty thoughts,<\/p>\n

A
\nwill entire couchant behind wisdom’s shield,<\/p>\n

Though
\nto still heavens of knowledge she had risen,<\/p>\n

Though
\ncalm and wise and Aswapathy’s queen,<\/p>\n

Human
\nwas she still and opened her doors to grief;<\/p>\n

The
\nstony-eyed injustice she accused<\/p>\n

Of
\nthe marble godhead of inflexible Law;<\/p>\n

Nor
\nsought the strength extreme adversity brings<\/p>\n

To
\nlives that stand erect and front the World-Power:<\/p>\n

Her
\nheart appealed against the impartial judge,<\/p>\n

Taxed
\nwith perversity the impersonal One.<\/p>\n

Her
\ntranquil spirit she called not to her aid,<\/p>\n

But
\nas a common man beneath his load<\/p>\n

Grows
\nfaint and breathes his pain in ignorant words,<\/p>\n

So
\nnow she arraigned the World’s impassive will:<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat
\nstealthy doom has crept across her path<\/p>\n

Emerging
\nfrom the dark forest’s sullen heart, <\/p>\n

\n Page \u2013 427<\/span><\/p>\n

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

What
\nevil thing stood smiling by the way<\/p>\n

And
\nwore the beauty of the Shalwa boy?<\/p>\n

Perhaps
\nhe came an enemy from her past<\/p>\n

Armed
\nwith a hidden force of ancient wrongs,<\/p>\n

Himself
\nunknowing, and seized her unknown.<\/p>\n

Here
\ndreadfully entangled love and hate<\/p>\n

Meet
\nus blind wanderers mid the perils of Time.<\/p>\n

Our
\ndays are links of a disastrous chain,<\/p>\n

Necessity
\navenges casual steps;<\/p>\n

Old
\ncruelties come back unrecognised,<\/p>\n

The
\ngods make use of our forgotten deeds.<\/p>\n

Yet
\nall in vain the bitter law was made.<\/p>\n

Our
\nown minds are the justicers of doom.<\/p>\n

For
\nnothing have we learned, but still repeat<\/p>\n

Our
\nstark misuse of self and others’ selves,<\/p>\n

And
\nfallen from his ethereal element<\/p>\n

Love
\ndarkens to the spirit of nether gods.<\/p>\n

The
\ndreadful angel, angry with his joys<\/p>\n

Woundingly
\nsweet he cannot yet forego,<\/p>\n

Is
\npitiless to the soul his gaze disarmed,<\/p>\n

He
\nvisits with his own pangs his quivering prey<\/p>\n

Forcing
\nus to cling enamoured to his grip<\/p>\n

As
\nif in love with our own agony.<\/p>\n

This
\nis one poignant misery in the world,<\/p>\n

And
\ngrief has other lassoes for our life.<\/p>\n

Our
\nsympathies become our torturers.<\/p>\n

Strength
\nhave I my own punishment to bear,<\/p>\n

Knowing
\nit just, but on this earth perplexed,<\/p>\n

Smitten
\nin the sorrow of scourged and helpless things,<\/p>\n

Often
\nit faints to meet other suffering eyes.<\/p>\n

We
\nare not as the gods who know not grief<\/p>\n

And
\nlook impassive on a suffering world,<\/p>\n

Calm
\nthey gaze down on the little human scene<\/p>\n

And
\nthe short-lived passion crossing mortal hearts.<\/p>\n

An
\nancient tale of woe can move us still,<\/p>\n

We
\nkeep the ache of breasts that breathe no more, <\/p>\n

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

We
\nare shaken by the sight of human pain,<\/p>\n

And
\nshare the miseries that others feel.<\/p>\n

Ours
\nnot the passionless lids that cannot age.<\/p>\n

Too
\nhard for us is heaven’s indifference:<\/p>\n

Our
\nown tragedies are not enough for us,<\/p>\n

All
\npathos and all sufferings we make ours;<\/p>\n

We
\nhave sorrow for a greatness passed away<\/p>\n

And
\nfeel the touch of tears in mortal things.<\/p>\n

Even
\na stranger’s anguish rends my heart,<\/p>\n

And
\nthis, O Narad, is my well-loved child.<\/p>\n

Hide
\nnot from us our doom, if doom is ours.<\/p>\n

This
\nis the worst, an unknown face of Fate,<\/p>\n

A
\nterror ominous, mute, felt more than seen<\/p>\n

Behind
\nour seat by day, our couch by night,<\/p>\n

A
\nFate lurking in the shadow of our hearts,<\/p>\n

The
\nanguish of the unseen that waits to strike.<\/p>\n

To
\nknow is best, however hard to bear.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then
\ncried the sage piercing the mother’s heart,<\/p>\n

Forcing
\nto steel the will of Savitri<\/p>\n

His
\nwords set free the spring of cosmic Fate.<\/p>\n

The
\ngreat Gods use the pain of human hearts<\/p>\n

As a
\nsharp axe to hew their cosmic road:<\/p>\n

They
\nsquander lavishly men’s blood and tears<\/p>\n

For
\na moment’s purpose in their fateful work.<\/p>\n

This
\ncosmic Nature’s balance is not ours<\/p>\n

Nor
\nthe mystic measure of her need and use.<\/p>\n

A
\nsingle word lets loose vast agencies,<\/p>\n

A
\ncasual act determines the world’s fate.<\/p>\n

So
\nnow he set free destiny in that hour:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe
\ntruth thou hast claimed; I give to thee the truth.<\/p>\n

A
\nmarvel of the meeting earth and heavens<\/p>\n

Is
\nhe whom Savitri has chosen mid men,<\/p>\n

His
\nfigure is the front of Nature’s march,<\/p>\n

His
\nsingle being excels the works of Time.<\/p>\n

A
\nsapphire cutting from the sleep of heaven,<\/p>\n

Delightful
\nis the soul of Satyavan, <\/p>\n

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

A
\nray out of the rapturous Infinite,<\/p>\n

A
\nsilence waking to a hymn of joy.<\/p>\n

A
\ndivinity and kingliness gird his brow;<\/p>\n

His
\neyes keep a memory from a world of bliss.<\/p>\n

As
\nbrilliant as a lonely moon in heaven,<\/p>\n

Gentle
\nlike the sweet bud that spring desires,<\/p>\n

Pure
\nlike a stream that kisses silent banks,<\/p>\n

He
\ntakes with bright surprise spirit and sense.<\/p>\n

A
\nliving knot of golden Paradise,<\/p>\n

A
\nblue Immense he leans to the longing world,<\/p>\n

Time’s
\njoy borrowed out of eternity,<\/p>\n

A
\nstar of splendour or a rose of bliss.<\/p>\n

In
\nhim Soul and Nature, equal Presences,<\/p>\n

Balance
\nand fuse in a wide harmony.<\/p>\n

The
\nHappy in their bright ether have not hearts<\/p>\n

More
\nsweet and true than this of mortal make<\/p>\n

That
\ntakes all joy as the world’s native gift<\/p>\n

And
\nto all gives joy as the world’s natural right.<\/p>\n

His
\nspeech carries a light of inner truth,<\/p>\n

And
\na large-eyed communion with the Power<\/p>\n

In
\ncommon things has made veilless his mind,<\/p>\n

A
\nseer in earth-shapes of garbless deity.<\/p>\n

A
\ntranquil breadth of sky windless and still<\/p>\n

Watching
\nthe world like a mind of unplumbed thought,<\/p>\n

A
\nsilent space musing and luminous<\/p>\n

Uncovered
\nby the morning to delight,<\/p>\n

A
\ngreen tangle of trees upon a happy hill<\/p>\n

Made
\ninto a murmuring nest by southern winds,<\/p>\n

These
\nare his images and parallels,<\/p>\n

His
\nkin in beauty and in depth his peers.<\/p>\n

A
\nwill to climb lifts a delight to live,<\/p>\n

Heaven’s
\nheight companion of earth-beauty’s charm,<\/p>\n

An
\naspiration to the immortals’ air<\/p>\n

Lain
\non the lap of mortal ecstasy.<\/p>\n

His
\nsweetness and his joy attract all hearts<\/p>\n

To
\nlive with his own in a glad tenancy, <\/p>\n

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

His
\nstrength is like a tower built to reach heaven,<\/p>\n

A
\ngodhead quarried from the stones of life.<\/p>\n

O
\nloss, if death into its elements<\/p>\n

Of
\nwhich his gracious envelope was built<\/p>\n

Shatter
\nthis vase before it breathes its sweets,<\/p>\n

As
\nif earth could not keep too long from heaven<\/p>\n

A
\ntreasure thus unique loaned by the gods,<\/p>\n

A
\nbeing so rare, of so divine a make!<\/p>\n

In
\none brief year when this bright hour flies back<\/p>\n

And
\nperches careless on a branch of Time,<\/p>\n

This
\nsovereign glory ends heaven lent to earth,<\/p>\n

This
\nsplendour vanishes from the mortal’s sky:<\/p>\n

Heaven’s
\ngreatness came, but was too great to stay.<\/p>\n

Twelve
\nswift-winged months are given to him and her;<\/p>\n

This
\nday returning Satyavan must die.\u201d<\/p>\n

A
\nlightning bright and nude the sentence fell.<\/p>\n

But
\nthe queen cried: \u201cVain then can be Heaven’s grace!<\/p>\n

Heaven
\nmocks us with the brilliance of its gifts,<\/p>\n

For
\nDeath is a cupbearer of the wine<\/p>\n

Of
\ntoo brief joy held up to mortal lips<\/p>\n

For
\na passionate moment by the careless gods.<\/p>\n

But
\nI reject the grace and the mockery.<\/p>\n

Mounting
\nthy car go forth, O Savitri,<\/p>\n

And
\ntravel once more through the peopled lands.<\/p>\n

Alas,
\nin the green gladness of the woods<\/p>\n

Thy
\nheart has stooped to a misleading call.<\/p>\n

Choose
\nonce again and leave this fated head,<\/p>\n

Death
\nis the gardener of this wonder-tree;<\/p>\n

Love’s
\nsweetness sleeps in his pale marble hand.<\/p>\n

Advancing
\nin a honeyed line but closed,<\/p>\n

A
\nlittle joy would buy too bitter an end.<\/p>\n

Plead
\nnot thy choice, for death has made it vain.<\/p>\n

Thy
\nyouth and radiance were not born to lie<\/p>\n

A
\ncasket void dropped on a careless soil;<\/p>\n

A
\nchoice less rare may call a happier fate.\u201d<\/p>\n

But
\nSavitri answered from her violent heart,\u2014 <\/p>\n

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

Her
\nvoice was calm, her face was fixed like steel:<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce
\nmy heart chose and chooses not again.<\/p>\n

The
\nword I have spoken can never be erased,<\/p>\n

It
\nis written in the record book of God.<\/p>\n

The
\ntruth once uttered, from the earth’s air effaced,<\/p>\n

By
\nmind forgotten, sounds immortally<\/p>\n

For
\never in the memory of Time.<\/p>\n

Once
\nthe dice fall thrown by the hand of Fate<\/p>\n

In
\nan eternal moment of the gods.<\/p>\n

My
\nheart has sealed its troth to Satyavan:<\/p>\n

Its
\nsignature adverse Fate cannot efface,<\/p>\n

Its
\nseal not Fate nor Death nor Time dissolve.<\/p>\n

Those
\nwho shall part who have grown one being within?<\/p>\n

Death’s
\ngrip can break our bodies, not our souls;<\/p>\n

If
\ndeath take him, I too know how to die.<\/p>\n

Let
\nFate do with me what she will or can;<\/p>\n

I am
\nstronger than death and greater than my fate;<\/p>\n

My
\nlove shall outlast the world, doom falls from me<\/p>\n

Helpless
\nagainst my immortality.<\/p>\n

Fate’s
\nlaw may change, but not my spirit’s will.\u201d<\/p>\n

An
\nadamant will, she cast her speech like bronze,<\/p>\n

But
\nin the queen’s mind listening her words<\/p>\n

Rang
\nlike the voice of a self-chosen Doom<\/p>\n

Denying
\nevery issue of escape.<\/p>\n

To
\nher own despair answer the mother made;<\/p>\n

As
\none she cried who in her heavy heart<\/p>\n

Labours
\namid the sobbing of her hopes<\/p>\n

To
\nwake a note of help from sadder strings:<\/p>\n

\u201cO
\nchild, in the magnificence of thy soul<\/p>\n

Dwelling
\non the border of a greater world,<\/p>\n

And,
\ndazzled by thy superhuman thoughts,<\/p>\n

Thou
\nlendst eternity to a mortal hope.<\/p>\n

Here
\non this mutable and ignorant earth,<\/p>\n

Who
\nis the lover and who is the friend?<\/p>\n

All
\npasses here, nothing remains the same.<\/p>\n

None
\nis for any on this transient globe. <\/p>\n

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

He
\nwhom thou lovest now, a stranger came<\/p>\n

And
\ninto a far strangeness shall depart.<\/p>\n

His
\nmoment’s part once done upon life’s stage<\/p>\n

Which
\nfor a time was given him from within,<\/p>\n

To
\nother scenes he moves and other players<\/p>\n

And
\nlaughs and weeps mid faces new, unknown.<\/p>\n

The
\nbody thou hast loved is cast away<\/p>\n

Amidst
\nthe brute unchanging stuff of worlds<\/p>\n

To
\nindifferent mighty Nature and becomes<\/p>\n

Crude
\nmatter for the joy of others’ lives.<\/p>\n

But
\nfor our souls, upon the wheel of God<\/p>\n

For
\never turning, they arrive and go,<\/p>\n

Married
\nand sundered in the magic round<\/p>\n

Of
\nthe great Dancer of the boundless dance.<\/p>\n

Our
\nemotions are but high and dying notes<\/p>\n

Of
\nhis wild music changed compellingly<\/p>\n

By
\nthe passionate movements of a seeking Heart<\/p>\n

In
\nthe incessant links of hour with hour.<\/p>\n

To
\ncall down heaven’s distant answering song,<\/p>\n

To
\ncry to an unseized bliss is all we dare;<\/p>\n

Once
\nseized, we lose the heavenly music’s sense;<\/p>\n

Too
\nnear, the rhythmic cry has fled or failed;<\/p>\n

All
\nsweetnesses are baffling symbols here,<\/p>\n

Love
\ndies before the lover in our breast:<\/p>\n

Our
\njoys are perfumes in a brittle vase.<\/p>\n

O
\nthen what wreck is this upon Time’s sea<\/p>\n

To
\nspread life’s sails to the hurricane desire<\/p>\n

And
\ncall for pilot the unseeing heart!<\/p>\n

O
\nchild, wilt thou proclaim, wilt thou then follow<\/p>\n

Against
\nthe Law that is the eternal will<\/p>\n

The
\nautarchy of the rash titan’s mood<\/p>\n

To
\nwhom his own fierce will is the one law<\/p>\n

In a
\nworld where Truth is not, nor Light nor God?<\/p>\n

Only
\nthe gods can speak what now thou speakst.<\/p>\n

Thou
\nwho art human, think not like a god.<\/p>\n

For
\nman, below the god, above the brute, <\/p>\n

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

Is
\ngiven the calm reason as his guide;<\/p>\n

He
\nis not driven by an unthinking will<\/p>\n

As
\nare the actions of the bird and beast;<\/p>\n

He
\nis not moved by stark Necessity<\/p>\n

Like
\nthe senseless motion of inconscient things.<\/p>\n

The
\ngiant’s and the titan’s furious march<\/p>\n

Climbs
\nto usurp the kingdom of the gods<\/p>\n

Or
\nskirts the demon magnitudes of Hell;<\/p>\n

In
\nthe unreflecting passion of their hearts<\/p>\n

They
\ndash their lives against the eternal Law<\/p>\n

And
\nfall and break by their own violent mass:<\/p>\n

The
\nmiddle path is made for thinking man.<\/p>\n

To
\nchoose his steps by reason’s vigilant light,<\/p>\n

To
\nchoose his path among the many paths<\/p>\n

Is
\ngiven him, for each his difficult goal<\/p>\n

Hewn
\nout of infinite possibility.<\/p>\n

Leave
\nnot thy goal to follow a beautiful face.<\/p>\n

Only
\nwhen thou hast climbed above thy mind<\/p>\n

And
\nliv’st in the calm vastness of the One<\/p>\n

Can
\nLove be eternal in the eternal bliss<\/p>\n

And
\nlove divine replace the human tie.<\/p>\n

There
\nis a shrouded law, an austere force:<\/p>\n

It
\nbids thee strengthen thy undying spirit;<\/p>\n

It
\noffers its severe benignances<\/p>\n

Of
\nwork and thought and measured grave delight<\/p>\n

As
\nsteps to climb to God’s far secret heights.<\/p>\n

Then
\nis our life a tranquil pilgrimage,<\/p>\n

Each
\nyear a mile upon the heavenly Way,<\/p>\n

Each
\ndawn opens into a larger Light.<\/p>\n

Thy
\nacts are thy helpers, or events are signs,<\/p>\n

Waking
\nand sleep are opportunities<\/p>\n

Given
\nto thee by an immortal Power:<\/p>\n

So
\ncanst thou raise thy pure unvanquished spirit<\/p>\n

Till
\nspread to heaven in a wide vesper calm,<\/p>\n

Indifferent
\nand gentle as the sky,<\/p>\n

It
\ngreatens slowly into timeless peace.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n Page \u2013 434<\/span><\/p>\n

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

But
\nSavitri replied with steadfast eyes:<\/p>\n

\u201cMy
\nwill is part of the eternal will,<\/p>\n

My
\nfate is what my spirit’s strength can make,<\/p>\n

My
\nfate is what my spirit’s strength can bear;<\/p>\n

My
\nstrength is not the titan’s, it is God’s.<\/p>\n

I
\nhave discovered my glad reality<\/p>\n

Beyond
\nmy body in another’s being:<\/p>\n

I
\nhave found the deep unchanging soul of love.<\/p>\n

Then
\nhow shall I desire a lonely good,<\/p>\n

Or
\nslay, aspiring to white vacant peace,<\/p>\n

The
\nendless hope that made my soul spring forth<\/p>\n

Out
\nof its infinite solitude and sleep?<\/p>\n

My
\nspirit has glimpsed the glory for which it came,<\/p>\n

Beating
\nof one vast heart in the flame of things,<\/p>\n

My
\neternity clasped by his eternity<\/p>\n

And,
\ntireless of the sweet abysms of Time,<\/p>\n

Deep
\npossibility always to love.<\/p>\n

This,
\nthis is first, last joy and to its throb<\/p>\n

The
\nriches of a thousand fortunate years<\/p>\n

Are
\na poverty,. Nothing to me are death and grief<\/p>\n

Or
\nordinary lives and happy days.<\/p>\n

And
\nwhat to me are common souls of men<\/p>\n

Or
\neyes and lips that are not Satyavan’s?<\/p>\n

I
\nhave no need to draw back from his arms<\/p>\n

And
\nthe discovered paradise of his love<\/p>\n

And
\njourney into a still infinity.<\/p>\n

Only
\nnow for my soul in Satyavan<\/p>\n

I
\ntreasure the rich occasion of my birth:<\/p>\n

In
\nsunlight and a dream of emerald ways<\/p>\n

I
\nshall walk with him like gods in Paradise.<\/p>\n

If
\nfor a year, that year is all my life<\/p>\n

And
\nyet I know this is not all my fate<\/p>\n

Only
\nto live and love awhile and die.<\/p>\n

For
\nI know now why my spirit came on earth<\/p>\n

And
\nwho I am and who he is I love.<\/p>\n

I
\nhave looked at him from my immortal Self, <\/p>\n

\n Page \u2013 435<\/span><\/p>\n

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

I
\nhave seen God smile at me in Satyavan;<\/p>\n

I
\nhave seen the Eternal in a human face.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then
\nnone could answer to her words. Silent<\/p>\n

They
\nsat and looked into the eyes of Fate.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

End of Canto One <\/p>\n

\n Page \u2013 436<\/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":"

Book Six The Book of Fate    Canto One   The Word of Fate    In silent bounds bordering the mortal’s plane Crossing a wide…<\/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-1025","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\/1025","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=1025"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1025\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}