{"id":1469,"date":"2013-07-13T01:35:01","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:35:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=1469"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:35:01","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:35:01","slug":"45-a-gods-labour-vol-05-collected-poems-volume-05","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/01-sabcl\/05-collected-poems-volume-05\/45-a-gods-labour-vol-05-collected-poems-volume-05","title":{"rendered":"-45_A God’s Labour.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n


\n\t\tSHORT POEMS
\n(1930 – 1950)<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nGod\u2019s Labour<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/font>
\n<\/b> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n
 <\/td>\n\n

\nI<\/font> have gathered my dreams in a silver air
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

     Between<\/span> the gold and the blue
\nAnd wrapped them softly and left them
\nthere, <\/span><\/p>\n

     My jewelled<\/span> dreams
\nof you. <\/span><\/p>\n

  <\/span><\/p>\n

I had hoped to build a rainbow bridge <\/span><\/p>\n

     Marrying the soil to the sky
\nAnd sow in this dancing planet midge <\/span><\/p>\n

     The moods of infinity.<\/p>\n

But too bright were our heavens, too far away, <\/span><\/p>\n

     Too frail their ethereal stuff;
\nToo splendid and sudden our light could not stay; <\/span><\/p>\n

     The roots were not deep enough.<\/p>\n

He who would bring the heavens here <\/span><\/p>\n

     Must descend himself into clay
\nAnd the burden of earthly nature bear <\/span><\/p>\n

     And tread the dolorous way.<\/p>\n

Coercing my godhead I have come down <\/span><\/p>\n

     Here on the sordid earth,
\nIgnorant, labouring<\/span>, human grown <\/span><\/p>\n

     Twixt the gates of death and birth. <\/span><\/p>\n

  <\/span><\/p>\n

I<\/span> have been digging deep and long <\/span><\/p>\n

     Mid a horror of filth and mire
\nA bed for the golden river\u2019s song, <\/span><\/p>\n

     A home for the deathless fire.
\n 
\nI<\/span> have laboured<\/span>
\nand suffered in Matter\u2019s night <\/span><\/p>\n

     To bring the fire to man;
\nBut the hate of hell and human spite <\/span><\/p>\n

     Are my meed<\/span> since
\nthe world began.<\/p>\n

For man\u2019s mind is the dupe of his animal self; <\/span><\/p>\n

     Hoping its lusts to win,
\nHe harbours<\/span> within him a grisly Elf <\/span><\/p>\n

     Enamoured<\/span><\/span> of sorrow and sin.   <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage-99<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

The grey Elf shudders from heaven\u2019s flame
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

     And from all things glad and pure;
\nOnly by pleasure and passion and pain <\/span><\/p>\n

     His drama can endure.<\/p>\n

All around is darkness and strife; <\/span><\/p>\n

     For the lamps that men call suns
\nAre but halfway gleams on this stumbling life <\/span><\/p>\n

     Cast by the Undying Ones.<\/p>\n

Man lights his little torches of hope <\/span><\/p>\n

     That lead to a failing edge;
\nA fragment of Truth is his widest scope, <\/span><\/p>\n

     An inn his pilgrimage. <\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe Truth of truths men fear and deny,
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

     The Light of lights they refuse; <\/span><\/p>\n

To ignorant gods they lift their cry <\/span><\/p>\n

     Or a demon altar choose. <\/span><\/p>\n

  <\/span><\/p>\n

All that was found must again be sought,
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

     Each enemy slain revives,
\nEach battle for ever is fought and refought<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

     Through vistas of fruitless lives. <\/span><\/p>\n

  <\/span><\/p>\n

My gaping wounds are a thousand and one
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

     And the Titan kings assail,
\nBut I cannot rest till my task is done <\/span><\/p>\n

     And wrought the eternal will.<\/p>\n

How they mock and sneer, both devils and men! <\/span><\/p>\n

     \u201cThy hope is Chimera\u2019s head
\nPainting the sky with its fiery stain; <\/span><\/p>\n

     Thou shalt<\/span> fall and
\nthy work lie dead.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho art thou that babblest<\/span> of heavenly ease <\/span><\/p>\n

     And joy and golden room
\nTo us who are waifs on inconscient<\/span> seas <\/span><\/p>\n

     And
\nbound to life\u2019s iron doom?<\/p>\n

\nPage-100<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

 \u201cThis earth is ours,<\/span> a field
\nof Night<\/span><\/p>\n

     For our<\/span> petty flickering fires.<\/span><\/p>\n

How <\/span>shall it brook<\/span>
\nthe sacred Light<\/span><\/p>\n

     Or suffer<\/span> a god\u2019s desires? <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cCo<\/span>me, let us slay him
\nand end his course!<\/span><\/p>\n

     Then shall our hearts have release<\/span><\/p>\n

In the burden and call of his glory and force <\/span><\/p>\n

     And the curb of his wide white peace.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

But the god is there in my mortal breast <\/span><\/p>\n

     Who wrestles with error and fate<\/span><\/p>\n

And tramples a road through mire and waste<\/span><\/p>\n

      For the nameless Immaculate. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

A voice cried, \u201cGo where none have gone!<\/span><\/p>\n

     Dig deeper, deeper yet <\/span><\/p>\n

Till <\/span>thou reach the grim
\nfoundation stone<\/span><\/p>\n

     And knock at the keyless gate.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

I saw <\/span>that a falsehood
\nwas planted deep<\/span><\/p>\n

     At the very root of things <\/span><\/p>\n

Where the grey Sphinx guards God\u2019s riddle sleep<\/span><\/p>\n

     On the Dragon\u2019s outspread wings.  <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

I left the<\/span> surface<\/span>
\ngods of mind<\/span><\/p>\n

     And life\u2019s unsatisfied seas <\/span><\/p>\n

And <\/span>plunged through the
\nbody\u2019s alleys blind<\/span><\/p>\n

     To the nether mysteries. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

I have delved through the dumb Earth\u2019s dreadful heart<\/span><\/p>\n

     And heard her black mass\u2019 bell. <\/span><\/p>\n

I have seen the source whence her agonies part <\/span><\/p>\n

     And the inner reason of hell. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Above me the dragon murmurs moan <\/span><\/p>\n

     And the goblin voices flit; <\/span><\/p>\n

I have pierced the Void where Thought was born,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n     I<\/span> have
\nwalked in the bottomless pit. <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage-101<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

\nOn a desperate stair my feet have trod<\/span><\/p>\n

     Armoured<\/span><\/span> with boundless peace,<\/span><\/p>\n

Bringing the fires of the splendour<\/span> of God<\/span><\/p>\n

     Into the human
\nabyss.<\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

He who I am was with me still; <\/span><\/p>\n

     All veils are breaking now.<\/span><\/p>\n

I have heard His voice and borne
\nHis will<\/p>\n

     On my vast untroubled brow. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

The gulf twixt the depths and the heights is bridged <\/span><\/p>\n

     And the golden waters pour <\/span><\/p>\n

Down the sapphire mountain rainbow-ridged<\/span><\/p>\n

     And glimmer from shore to shore. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Heaven\u2019s fire is lit in the breast of the earth<\/span><\/p>\n

     And the undying suns here burn; <\/span><\/p>\n

Through a wonder cleft in the bounds of\u00a0
\n<\/span>birth <\/span><\/p>\n

     The incarnate spirits yearn <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Like flames to the kingdoms of Truth and Bliss: <\/span><\/p>\n

     Down a gold-red stair-way wend <\/span><\/p>\n

The radiant children of Paradise <\/span><\/p>\n

     Clarioning<\/span><\/span> darkness\u2019s end.<\/p>\n

A little more and the new life\u2019s doors <\/span><\/p>\n

     Shall be carved in silver light <\/span><\/p>\n

With its aureate roof and mosaic floors <\/span><\/p>\n

     In a great world bare and bright. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

I shall leave my dreams in their argent air, <\/span><\/p>\n

     For in a raiment of gold and blue <\/span><\/p>\n

There shall move on the earth embodied and fair <\/span><\/p>\n

     The living truth of you.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Page-102<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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

SHORT POEMS (1930 – 1950)   God\u2019s Labour       I have gathered my dreams in a silver air      Between the gold and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-05-collected-poems-volume-05","wpcat-32-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1469","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=1469"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1469\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}