{"id":2978,"date":"2013-07-13T01:45:04","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:45:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=2978"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:45:04","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:45:04","slug":"10-complete-narrative-poems-contd-vol-02-collected-poems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/03-cwsa\/02-collected-poems\/10-complete-narrative-poems-contd-vol-02-collected-poems","title":{"rendered":"-10_Complete Narrative Poems – contd.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\n\n
\n

 <\/td>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\nLove and Death<\/font><\/i><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nLove and Death<\/font><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tIn woodlands of the bright and early world,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWhen love was to himself yet new and warm<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAnd stainless, played like morning with a flower<\/span><\/p>\n

\nRuru with his young bride Priyumvada.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tFresh-cheeked and dew-eyed white Priyumvada<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOpened her budded heart of crimson bloom<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tTo love, to Ruru; Ruru, a happy flood<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOf passion round a lotus dancing thrilled,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tBlinded with his soul’s waves Priyumvada.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nTo him the earth was a bed for this sole flower,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tTo her all the world was filled with his embrace.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWet with new rains the morning earth, released<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tFrom her fierce centuries and burning suns,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nLavished her breath in greenness; poignant flowers<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThronged all her eager breast, and her young arms<\/span><\/p>\n

\nCradled a childlike bounding life that played<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAnd would not cease, nor ever weary grew<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOf her bright promise; for all was joy and breeze<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAnd perfume, colour and bloom and ardent rays<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOf living, and delight desired the world.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThen Earth was quick and pregnant tamelessly;<\/span><\/p>\n

\nA free and unwalled race possessed her plains<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tWhose hearts uncramped by bonds, whose unspoiled
\n\t\t\tthoughts<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAt once replied to light. Foisoned the fields;<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tLonely and rich the forests and the swaying<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOf those unnumbered tops affected men<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tWith thoughts to their vast music kin. Undammed<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe virgin rivers moved towards the sea,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAnd mountains yet unseen and peoples vague<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWinged young imagination like an eagle<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tTo strange beauty remote. And Ruru felt<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe sweetness of the early earth as sap<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAll through him, and short life an aeon made<\/span><\/p>\n

\nBy boundless possibility, and love,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 113<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nSweetest of all unfathomable love,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tA glory untired. As a bright bird comes flying<\/span><\/p>\n

\nFrom airy extravagance to his own home,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAnd breasts his mate, and feels her all his goal,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nSo from boon sunlight and the fresh chill wave<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tWhich swirled and lapped between the slumbering
\n\t\t\tfields,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nFrom forest pools and wanderings mid leaves<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThrough emerald ever-new discoveries,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nMysterious hillsides ranged and buoyant-swift<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tRaces with our wild brothers in the meads,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nCame Ruru back to the white-bosomed girl,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tStrong-winged to pleasure. She all fresh and new<\/span><\/p>\n

\nRose to him, and he plunged into her charm.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tFor neither to her honey and poignancy<\/span><\/p>\n

\nArtlessly interchanged, nor any limit<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tTo the sweet physical delight of her<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHe found. Her eyes like deep and infinite wells<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tLured his attracted soul, and her touch thrilled<\/span><\/p>\n

\nNot lightly, though so light; the joy prolonged<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAnd sweetness of the lingering of her lips<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWas every time a nectar of surprise<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tTo her lover; her smooth-gleaming shoulder bared<\/span><\/p>\n

\nIn darkness of her hair showed jasmine-bright,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tWhile her kissed bosom by rich tumults stirred<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWas a moved sea that rocked beneath his heart.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThen when her lips had made him blind, soft siege<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOf all her unseen body to his rule<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tBetrayed the ravishing realm of her white limbs,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAn empire for the glory of a God.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tHe knew not whether he loved most her smile,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHer causeless tears or little angers swift,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tWhether held wet against him from the bath<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAmong her kindred lotuses, her cheeks<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tSoft to his lips and dangerous happy breasts<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThat vanquished all his strength with their desire,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tMeeting his absence with her sudden face,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOr when the leaf-hid bird at night complained<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 114<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\nNear their wreathed arbour on the moonlit lake,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tSobbing delight out from her heart of bliss,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOr in his clasp of rapture laughing low<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tOf his close bosom bridal-glad and pleased<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWith passion and this fiery play of love,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tOr breaking off like one who thinks of grief,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWonderful melancholy in her eyes<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tGrown liquid and with wayward sorrow large.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThus he in her found a warm world of sweets,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAnd lived of ecstasy secure, nor deemed<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAny new hour could match that early bliss.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tBut Love has joys for spirits born divine<\/span><\/p>\n

\nMore bleeding-lovely than his thornless rose.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThat day he had left, while yet the east was
\n\t\t\tdark,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nRising, her bosom and into the river<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tSwam out, exulting in the sting and swift<\/span><\/p>\n

\nSharp-edged desire around his limbs, and sprang<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tWet to the bank, and streamed into the wood.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAs a young horse upon the pastures glad<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tFeels greensward and the wind along his mane<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd arches as he goes his neck, so went<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tIn an immense delight of youth the boy<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd shook his locks, joy-crested. Boundlessly<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tHe revelled in swift air of life, a creature<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOf wide and vigorous morning. Far he strayed<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tTempting for flower and fruit branches in heaven,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd plucked, and flung away, and brighter chose,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tSeeking comparisons for her bloom; and followed<\/span><\/p>\n

\nNew streams, and touched new trees, and felt slow beauty<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAnd leafy secret change; for the damp leaves,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nGrey-green at first, grew pallid with the light<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAnd warmed with consciousness of sunshine near;<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThen the whole daylight wandered in, and made<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tHard tracts of splendour, and enriched all hues.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nBut when a happy sheltered heat he felt<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAnd heard contented voice of living things<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHarmonious with the noon, he turned and swiftly<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 115<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nWent homeward yearning to Priyumvada,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAnd near his home emerging from green leaves<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHe laughed towards the sun: "O father Sun,"<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tHe cried, "how good it is to live, to love!<\/span><\/p>\n

\nSurely our joy shall never end, nor we<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tGrow old, but like bright rivers or pure winds<\/span><\/p>\n

\nSweetly continue, or revive with flowers,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tOr live at least as long as senseless trees."<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHe dreamed, and said with a soft smile: "Lo, she!<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAnd she will turn from me with angry tears<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHer delicate face more beautiful than storm<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tOr rainy moonlight. I will follow her,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd soothe her heart with sovereign flatteries;<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tOr rather all tyranny exhaust and taste<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe beauty of her anger like a fruit,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tVexing her soul with helplessness; then soften<\/span><\/p>\n

\nEasily with quiet undenied demand<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tOf heart insisting upon heart; or else<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWill reinvest her beauty bright with flowers,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tOr with my hands her little feet persuade.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThen will her face be like a sudden dawn,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAnd flower compelled into reluctant smiles."<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHe had not ceased when he beheld her. She,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tTearing a jasmine bloom with waiting hands,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nStood drooping, petulant, but heard at once<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tHis footsteps and before she was aware,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nA sudden smile of exquisite delight<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tLeaped to her mouth, and a great blush of joy<\/span><\/p>\n

\nSurprised her cheeks. She for a moment stood<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tBeautiful with her love before she died;<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd he laughed towards her. With a pitiful cry<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tShe paled; moaning, her stricken limbs collapsed.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nBut petrified, in awful dumb surprise,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tHe gazed; then waking with a bound was by her,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAll panic expectation. As he came,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tHe saw a brilliant flash of coils evade<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe sunlight, and with hateful gorgeous hood<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 116<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\nDarted into green safety, hissing, death.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tVoiceless he sank beside her and stretched out<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHis arms and desperately touched her face,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAs if to attract her soul to live, and sought<\/span><\/p>\n

\nBeseeching with his hands her bosom. O, she<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tWas warm, and cruel hope pierced him; but pale<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAs jasmines fading on a girl’s sweet breast<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tHer cheek was, and forgot its perfect rose.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHer eyes that clung to sunlight yet, with pain<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tWere large and feebly round his neck her arms<\/span><\/p>\n

\nShe lifted and, desiring his pale cheek<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAgainst her bosom, sobbed out piteously,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n"Ah, love!" and stopped heart-broken; then, "O Love!<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAlas the green dear home that I must leave<\/span><\/p>\n

\nSo early! I was so glad of love and kisses,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAnd thought that centuries would not exhaust<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe deep embrace. And I have had so little<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tOf joy and the wild day and throbbing night,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nLaughter, and tenderness, and strife and tears.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI have not numbered half the brilliant birds<\/span><\/p>\n

\nIn one green forest, nor am familiar grown<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tWith sunrise and the progress of the eves,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nNor have with plaintive cries of birds made friends,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tCuckoo and rainlark and love-speak-to-me.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nI have not learned the names of half the flowers<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAround me; so few trees know me by my name;<\/span><\/p>\n

\nNor have I seen the stars so very often<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThat I should die. I feel a dreadful hand<\/span><\/p>\n

\nDrawing me from the touch of thy warm limbs<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tInto some cold vague mist, and all black night<\/span><\/p>\n

\nDescends towards me. I no more am thine,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tBut go I know not where, and see pale shapes<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd gloomy countries and that terrible stream.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tO Love, O Love, they take me from thee far,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd whether we shall find each other ever<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tIn the wide dreadful territory of death,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nI know not. Or thou wilt forget me quite,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

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\n

\nAnd life compel thee into other arms.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAh, come with me! I cannot bear to wander<\/span><\/p>\n

\nIn that cold cruel country all alone,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tHelpless and terrified, or sob by streams<\/span><\/p>\n

\nDenied sweet sunlight and by thee unloved."<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tSlower her voice came now, and over her cheek<\/span><\/p>\n

\nDeath paused; then, sobbing like a little child<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tToo early from her bounding pleasures called,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe lovely discontented spirit stole<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tFrom her warm body white. Over her leaned<\/span><\/p>\n

\nRuru, and waited for dead lips to move.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tStill in the greenwood lay Priyumvada,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd Ruru rose not from her, but with eyes<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tEmptied of glory hung above his dead,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOnly, without a word, without a tear.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThen the crowned wives of the great forest came,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThey who had fed her from maternal breasts,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAnd grieved over the lovely body cold,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd bore it from him; nor did he entreat<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tOne last look nor one kiss, nor yet denied<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWhat he had loved so well. They the dead girl<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tInto some distant greenness bore away.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nBut Ruru, while the stillness of the place<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tRemembered her, sat without voice. He heard<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThrough the great silence that was now his soul,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe forest sounds, a squirrel’s leap through
\n\t\t\tleaves,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe cheeping of a bird just overhead,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tA peacock with his melancholy cry<\/span><\/p>\n

\nComplaining far away, and tossings dim<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAnd slight unnoticeable stir of trees.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nBut all these were to him like distant things<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAnd he alone in his heart’s void. And yet<\/span><\/p>\n

\nNo thought he had of her so lately lost.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tRather far pictures, trivial incidents<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOf that old life before her delicate face<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tHad lived for him, dumbly distinct like thoughts<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

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\n

<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\nOf men that die, kept with long pomps his mind<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tExcluding the dead girl. So still he was,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe birds flashed by him with their swift small wings,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tFanning him. Then he moved, then rigorous<\/span><\/p>\n

\nMemory through all his body shuddering<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAwoke, and he looked up and knew the place,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd recognised greenness immutable,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAnd saw old trees and the same flowers still
\n\t\t\tbloom.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHe felt the bright indifference of earth<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAnd all the lonely uselessness of pain.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThen lifting up the beauty of his brow<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tHe spoke, with sorrow pale: "O grim cold Death!<\/span><\/p>\n

\nBut I will not like ordinary men<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tSatiate thee with cries, and falsely woo thee,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd make my grief thy theatre, who lie<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tProstrate beneath thy thunderbolts and make<\/span><\/p>\n

\nNight witness of their moans, shuddering and crying<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tWhen sudden memories pierce them like swords,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd often starting up as at a thought<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tIntolerable, pace a little, then<\/span><\/p>\n

\nSink down exhausted by brief agony.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tO secrecy terrific, darkness vast,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAt which we shudder! Somewhere, I know not where,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tSomehow, I know not how, I shall confront<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThy gloom, tremendous spirit, and seize with hands<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAnd prove what thou art and what man." He said,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd slowly to the forest wandered. There<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tLong months he travelled between grief and grief,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nReliving thoughts of her with every pace,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tMeasuring vast pain in his immortal mind.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd his heart cried in him as when a fire<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tRoars through wide forests and the branches cry<\/span><\/p>\n

\nBurning towards heaven in torture glorious.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tSo burned, immense, his grief within him; he
\n\t\t\traised<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHis young pure face all solemnised with pain,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tVoiceless. Then Fate was shaken, and the Gods<\/span><\/p>\n

\nGrieved for him, of his silence grown afraid.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

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\n

\nTherefore from peaks divine came flashing down<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tImmortal Agni and to the uswutth-tree<\/span><\/p>\n

\nCried in the Voice that slays the world: "O tree<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThat liftest thy enormous branches able<\/span><\/p>\n

\nTo shelter armies, more than armies now<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tShelter, be famous, house a brilliant God.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nFor the grief grows in Ruru’s breast up-piled,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAs wrestles with its anguished barricades<\/span><\/p>\n

\nIn silence an impending flood, and Gods<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tImmortal grow afraid. For earth alarmed<\/span><\/p>\n

\nShudders to bear the curse lest her young life<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPale with eclipse and all-creating love<\/span><\/p>\n

\nBe to mere pain condemned. Divert the wrath<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tInto thy boughs, Uswuttha  \u2014  thou
\n\t\t\tshalt be<\/span><\/p>\n

\nMy throne  \u2014  glorious, though in eternal pangs,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tYet worth much pain to harbour divine fire."<\/span><\/p>\n

\nSo ended the young pure destroyer’s voice,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAnd the dumb god consented silently.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nIn the same noon came Ruru; his mind had paused,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tLured for a moment by soft wandering gleams<\/span><\/p>\n

\nInto forgetfulness of grief; for thoughts<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tGentle and near-eyed whispering memories<\/span><\/p>\n

\nSo sweetly came, his blind heart dreamed she lived.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tSlow the uswuttha-tree bent down its leaves,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd smote his cheek, and touched his heavy hair.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAnd Ruru turned illumined. For a moment,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOne blissful moment he had felt ’twas she.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tSo had she often stolen up and touched<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHis curls with her enamoured fingers small,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tLingering, while the wind smote him with her hair<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd her quick breath came to him like spring. Then he,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tTurning, as one surprised with heaven, saw<\/span><\/p>\n

\nReady to his swift passionate grasp her bosom<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAnd body sweet expecting his embrace.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOh, now saw her not, but the guilty tree<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tShrinking; then grief back with a double crown<\/span><\/p>\n

\nArose and stained his face with agony.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

\n
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\n

<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\nNor silence he endured, but the dumb force<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAscetic and inherited, by sires<\/span><\/p>\n

\nFierce-musing earned, from the boy’s bosom blazed.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t"O uswutth-tree, wantonly who hast mocked<\/span><\/p>\n

\nMy anguish with the wind, but thou no more<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tHave joy of the cool wind nor green delight,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nBut live thy guilty leaves in fire, so long<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAs Aryan wheels by thy doomed shadow vast<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThunder to war, nor bless with cool wide waves<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tLyric Saruswathi nations impure."<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHe spoke, and the vast tree groaned through its leaves,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tRecognising its fate; then smouldered; lines<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOf living fire rushed up the girth and hissed<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tSerpentine in the unconsuming leaves;<\/span><\/p>\n

\nLast, all Hutashan in his chariot armed<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tSprang on the boughs and blazed into the sky,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd wailing all the great tormented creature<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tStood wide in agony; one half was green<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd earthly, the other a weird brilliance<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tFilled with the speed and cry of endless flame.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nBut he, with the fierce rushing-out of power<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tShaken and that strong grasp of anguish, flung<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHis hands out to the sun; "Priyumvada!"<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tHe cried, and at that well-loved sound there
\n\t\t\tdawned<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWith overwhelming sweetness miserable<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tUpon his mind the old delightful times<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWhen he had called her by her liquid name,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tWhere the voice loved to linger. He remembered<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe chompuc bushes where she turned away<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tHalf-angered, and his speaking of her name<\/span><\/p>\n

\nMasterfully as to a lovely slave<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tRebellious who has erred; at that the slow<\/span><\/p>\n

\nYielding of her small head, and after a little<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tHer sliding towards him and beautiful<\/span><\/p>\n

\nPropitiating body as she sank down<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tWith timid graspings deprecatingly<\/span><\/p>\n

\nIn prostrate warm surrender, her flushed cheeks<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 121<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nUpon his feet and little touches soft;<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tOr her long name uttered beseechingly,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd the swift leap of all her body to him,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAnd eyes of large repentance, and the weight<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOf her wild bosom and lips unsatisfied;<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tOr hourly call for little trivial needs,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOr sweet unneeded wanton summoning,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tDaily appeal that never staled nor lost<\/span><\/p>\n

\nIts sudden music, and her lovely speed,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tSedulous occupation left, quick-breathing,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWith great glad eyes and eager parted lips;<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tOr in deep quiet moments murmuring<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThat name like a religion in her ear,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAnd her calm look compelled to ecstasy;<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOr to the river luring her, or breathed<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tOver her dainty slumber, or secret sweet<\/span><\/p>\n

\nBridal outpantings of her broken name.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAll these as rush unintermitting waves<\/span><\/p>\n

\nUpon a swimmer overborne, broke on him<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tRelentless, things too happy to be endured,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nTill faint with the recalled felicity<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tLow he moaned out: "O pale Priyumvada!<\/span><\/p>\n

\nO dead fair flower! yet living to my grief!<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tBut I could only slay the innocent tree,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nPowerless when power should have been. Not such<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tWas Bhrigu from whose sacred strength I spring,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nNor Bhrigu’s son, my father, when he blazed<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tOut from Puloma’s side, and burning, blind,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nFell like a tree the ravisher unjust.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tBut I degenerate from such sires. O Death<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThat showest not thy face beneath the stars,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tBut comest masked, and on our dear ones seizing<\/span><\/p>\n

\nFearest to wrestle equally with love!<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tNor from thy gloomy house any come back<\/span><\/p>\n

\nTo tell thy way. But O, if any strength<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tIn lover’s constancy to torture dwell<\/span><\/p>\n

\nEarthward to force a helping god and such<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 122<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\nAscetic force be born of lover’s pain,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tLet my dumb pangs be heard. Whoe’er thou art,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nO thou bright enemy of Death, descend<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAnd lead me to that portal dim. For I<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHave burned in fires cruel as the fire<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAnd lain upon a sharper couch than swords."<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHe ceased, and heaven thrilled, and the far blue<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tQuivered as with invisible downward wings.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nBut Ruru passioned on, and came with eve<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tTo secret grass and a green opening moist<\/span><\/p>\n

\nIn a cool lustre. Leaned upon a tree<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThat bathed in faery air and saw the sky<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThrough branches, and a single parrot loud<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tScreamed from its top, there stood a golden boy,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHalf-naked, with bright limbs all beautiful  \u2014 <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tDelicate they were, in sweetness absolute:<\/span><\/p>\n

\nFor every gleam and every soft strong curve<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tMagically compelled the eye, and smote<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe heart to weakness. In his hands he swung<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tA bow  \u2014  not such as human archers
\n\t\t\tuse:<\/span><\/p>\n

\nFor the string moved and murmured like many bees,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAnd nameless fragrance made the casual air<\/span><\/p>\n

\nA peril. He on Ruru that fair face<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tTurned, and his steps with lovely gesture
\n\t\t\tchained.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n"Who art thou here, in forests wandering,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAnd thy young exquisite face is solemnised<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWith pain? Luxuriously the Gods have tortured<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThy heart to see such dreadful glorious beauty<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAgonise in thy lips and brilliant eyes:<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAs tyrants in the fierceness of others’ pangs<\/span><\/p>\n

\nJoy and feel strong, clothing with brilliant fire,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tTyrants in Titan lands. Needs must her mouth<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHave been pure honey and her bosom a charm,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tWhom thou desirest seeing not the green<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd common lovely sounds hast quite forgot."<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAnd Ruru, mastered by the God, replied:<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 123<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n"I know thee by thy cruel beauty bright,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tKama, who makest many worlds one fire.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAh, wherefore wilt thou ask of her to increase<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe passion and regret? Thou knowest, great love!<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThy nymph her mother, if thou truly art he<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAnd not a dream of my disastrous soul."<\/span><\/p>\n

\nBut with the thrilled eternal smile that makes<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe spring, the lover of Rathi golden-limbed<\/span><\/p>\n

\nReplied to Ruru, "Mortal, I am he;<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI am that Madan who inform the stars<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWith lustre and on life’s wide canvas fill<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPictures of light and shade, of joy and tears,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nMake ordinary moments wonderful<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAnd common speech a charm: knit life to life<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWith interfusions of opposing souls<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAnd sudden meetings and slow sorceries:<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWing the boy bridegroom to that panting breast,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tSmite Gods with mortal faces, dreadfully<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAmong great beautiful kings and watched by eyes<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThat burn, force on the virgin’s fainting limbs<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd drive her to the one face never seen,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe one breast meant eternally for her.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nBy me come wedded sweets, by me the wife’s<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tBusy delight and passionate obedience,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd loving eager service never sated,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAnd happy lips, and worshipping soft eyes:<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd mine the husband’s hungry arms and use<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tUnwearying of old tender words and ways,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nJoy of her hair, and silent pleasure felt<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tOf nearness to one dear familiar shape.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nNor only these, but many affections bright<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAnd soft glad things cluster around my name.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nI plant fraternal tender yearnings, make<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe sister’s sweet attractiveness and leap<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOf heart towards imperious kindred blood,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAnd the young mother’s passionate deep look,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nEarth’s high similitude of One not earth,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

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\n
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\n

<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\nTeach filial heart-beats strong. These are my gifts<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tFor which men praise me, these my glories calm:<\/span><\/p>\n

\nBut fiercer shafts I can, wild storms blown down<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tShaking fixed minds and melting marble natures,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nTears and dumb bitterness and pain unpitied,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tRacked thirsting jealousy and kind hearts made
\n\t\t\tstone:<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd in undisciplined huge souls I sow<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tDire vengeance and impossible cruelties,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nCold lusts that linger and fierce fickleness,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe loves close kin to hate, brute violence<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd mad insatiable longings pale,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAnd passion blind as death and deaf as swords.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nO mortal, all deep-souled desires and all<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tYearnings immense are mine, so much I can."<\/span><\/p>\n

\nSo as he spoke, his face grew wonderful<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tWith vast suggestion, his human-seeming limbs<\/span><\/p>\n

\nBrightened with a soft splendour: luminous hints<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tOf the concealed divinity transpired.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nBut soon with a slight discontented frown:<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t"So much I can, as even the great Gods learn.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOnly with death I wrestle in vain, until<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tMy passionate godhead all becomes a doubt.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nMortal, I am the light in stars, of flowers<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe bloom, the nameless fragrance that pervades<\/span><\/p>\n

\nCreation: but behind me, older than me,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tHe comes with night and cold tremendous shade.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHard is the way to him, most hard to find,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tHarder to tread, for perishable feet<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAlmost impossible. Yet, O fair youth,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tIf thou must needs go down, and thou art strong<\/span><\/p>\n

\nIn passion and in constancy, nor easy<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe soul to slay that has survived such grief 
\n\t\t\t\u2014 <\/span> <\/p>\n

\nSteel then thyself to venture, armed by Love.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tYet listen first what heavy trade they drive<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWho would win back their dead to human arms."<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tSo much the God; but swift, with eager eyes<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd panting bosom and glorious flushed face,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 125<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nThe lover: "O great Love! O beautiful Love!<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tBut if by strength is possible, of body<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOr mind, battle of spirit or moving speech,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tSweet speech that makes even cruelty grow kind,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOr yearning melody  \u2014  for I have heard<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThat when Saruswathi in heaven her harp<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHas smitten, the cruel sweetness terrible<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tCoils taking no denial through the soul,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd tears burst from the hearts of Gods  \u2014  then I,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tMaking great music, or with perfect words,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWill strive, or staying him with desperate hands<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tMatch human strength ‘gainst formidable Death.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nBut if with price, ah God! what easier! Tears<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tDreadful, innumerable I will absolve,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOr pay with anguish through the centuries,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tSoul’s agony and torture physical,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nSo her small hands about my face at last<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI feel, close real hair sting me with life,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd palpable breathing bosom on me press."<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThen with a lenient smile the mighty God:<\/span><\/p>\n

\n"O ignorant fond lover, not with tears<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tShalt thou persuade immitigable Death.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHe will not pity all thy pangs: nor know<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tHis stony eyes with music to grow kind,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nNor lovely words accepts. And how wilt thou<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tWrestle with that grim shadow, who canst not save<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOne bloom from fading? A sole thing the Gods<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tDemand from all men living, sacrifice:<\/span><\/p>\n

\nNor without this shall any crown be grasped.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tYet many sacrifices are there, oxen,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd prayers, and Soma wine, and pious flowers,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tBlood and the fierce expense of mind, and pure<\/span><\/p>\n

\nIncense of perfect actions, perfect thoughts,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tOr liberality wide as the sun’s,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOr ruthless labour or disastrous tears,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tExile or death or pain more hard than death,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAbsence, a desert, from the faces loved;<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 126<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/font>
\n<\/span><\/td>\n

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

  Love and Death   Love and Death   In woodlands of the bright and early world, When love was to himself yet new and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2978","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-02-collected-poems","wpcat-57-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2978","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=2978"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2978\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}