{"id":2987,"date":"2013-07-13T01:45:09","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:45:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=2987"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:45:09","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:45:09","slug":"43-poems-past-and-present-vol-02-collected-poems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/03-cwsa\/02-collected-poems\/43-poems-past-and-present-vol-02-collected-poems","title":{"rendered":"-43_Poems Past and Present.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\n\n
\n

 <\/td>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nPart Six<\/font><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tBaroda and Pondicherry<\/font><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nCirca 1902 \u00ad 1936<\/font><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n
\nPoems Past and Present<\/font><\/i><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nMusa Spiritus<\/a><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tO Word concealed in the upper fire,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThou who hast lingered through centuries,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tDescend from thy rapt white desire,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPlunging through gold eternities.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tInto the gulfs of our nature leap,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tVoice of the spaces, call of the Light!<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tBreak the seals of Matter’s sleep,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tBreak the trance of the unseen height.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tIn the uncertain glow of human mind,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tIts waste of unharmonied thronging thoughts,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tCarve thy epic mountain-lined<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tCrowded with deep prophetic grots.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tLet thy hue-winged lyrics hover like birds<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tOver the swirl of the heart’s sea.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tTouch into sight with thy fire-words<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe blind indwelling deity.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tO Muse of the Silence, the wideness make<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tIn the unplumbed stillness that hears thy voice;<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tIn the vast mute heavens of the spirit awake<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tWhere thy eagles of Power flame and rejoice.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tOut, out with the mind and its candle flares,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tLight, light the suns that never die.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tFor my ear the cry of the seraph stars<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAnd the forms of the Gods for my naked eye!<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tLet the little troubled life-god within<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tCast his veils from the still soul,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tHis tiger-stripes of virtue and sin,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tHis clamour and glamour and thole and dole;
\n\t\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 531<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n\t\t\tAll make tranquil, all make free.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tLet my heart-beats measure the footsteps of God<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAs He comes from His timeless infinity<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tTo build in their rapture His burning abode.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tWeave from my life His poem of days,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tHis calm pure dawns and His noons of force.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tMy acts for the grooves of His chariot-race,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tMy thoughts for the tramp of His great steeds’ course!<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tBride of the Fire<\/a><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nBride of the Fire, clasp me now close,  \u2014 <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tBride of the Fire!<\/span><\/p>\n

\nI have shed the bloom of the earthly rose,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI have slain desire.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nBeauty of the Light, surround my life,  \u2014 <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tBeauty of the Light!<\/span><\/p>\n

\nI have sacrificed longing and parted from grief,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI can bear thy delight.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nImage of ecstasy, thrill and enlace,  \u2014 <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tImage of bliss!<\/span><\/p>\n

\nI would see only thy marvellous face,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tFeel only thy kiss.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nVoice of Infinity, sound in my heart,  \u2014 <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tCall of the One!<\/span><\/p>\n

\nStamp there thy radiance, never to part,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tO living Sun.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 532<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nThe Blue Bird<\/a><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI am the bird of God in His blue;<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tDivinely high and clear<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI sing the notes of the sweet and the true<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tFor the god’s and the seraph’s ear.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI rise like a fire from the mortal’s earth<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tInto a griefless sky<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAnd drop in the suffering soil of his birth<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tFire-seeds of ecstasy.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tMy pinions soar beyond Time and Space<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tInto unfading Light;<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI bring the bliss of the Eternal’s face<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAnd the boon of the Spirit’s sight.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI measure the worlds with my ruby eyes;<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI have perched on Wisdom’s tree<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThronged with the blossoms of Paradise<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tBy the streams of Eternity.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tNothing is hid from my burning heart;<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tMy mind is shoreless and still;<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tMy song is rapture’s mystic art,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tMy flight immortal will.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 533<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

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

\n
\nA God’s Labour<\/a><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI have gathered my dreams in a silver air<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tBetween the gold and the blue<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAnd wrapped them softly and left them there,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tMy jewelled dreams of you.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

\n\t\t\tMarrying the soil to the sky<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAnd sow in this dancing planet midge<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe moods of infinity.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

\n\t\t\tToo frail their ethereal stuff;<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tToo splendid and sudden our light could not stay;<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe roots were not deep enough.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

\n\t\t\tMust descend himself into clay<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAnd the burden of earthly nature bear<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAnd tread the dolorous way.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

\n\t\t\tHere on the sordid earth,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tIgnorant, labouring, human grown<\/span><\/p>\n

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

 <\/p>\n

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

\n\t\t\tMid a horror of filth and mire<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tA bed for the golden river’s song,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tA home for the deathless fire.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI have laboured and suffered in Matter’s night<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tTo bring the fire to man;<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tBut the hate of hell and human spite<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAre my meed since the world began.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 534<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

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

\nFor man’s mind is the dupe of his animal self;<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tHoping its lusts to win,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHe harbours within him a grisly Elf<\/span><\/p>\n

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

\n <\/p>\n

\nThe grey Elf shudders from heaven’s flame<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAnd from all things glad and pure;<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOnly by pleasure and passion and pain<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tHis drama can endure.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

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

\n\t\t\tFor the lamps that men call suns<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAre but halfway gleams on this stumbling life<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tCast by the Undying Ones.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

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

\n\t\t\tThat lead to a failing edge;<\/span><\/p>\n

\nA fragment of Truth is his widest scope,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAn inn his pilgrimage.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

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

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

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

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

\n <\/p>\n

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

\n\t\t\tEach enemy slain revives,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nEach battle for ever is fought and refought<\/span><\/p>\n

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

\n <\/p>\n

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

\n\t\t\tAnd the Titan kings assail,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nBut I dare not rest till my task is done<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAnd wrought the eternal will.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 535<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

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

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

\n\t\t\t“Thy hope is Chimera’s head<\/span><\/p>\n

\nPainting the sky with its fiery stain;<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThou shalt fall and thy work lie dead.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

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

\n\t\t\tAnd joy and golden room<\/span><\/p>\n

\nTo us who are waifs on inconscient seas<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAnd bound to life’s iron doom?<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n“This earth is ours, a field of Night<\/span><\/p>\n

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

\nHow shall it brook the sacred Light<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tOr suffer a god’s desires?<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n“Come, let us slay him and end his course!<\/span><\/p>\n

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

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

\n\t\t\tAnd the curb of his wide white peace.”<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

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

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

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

\n\t\t\tFor the nameless Immaculate.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nA voice cried, “Go where none have gone!<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tDig deeper, deeper yet<\/span><\/p>\n

\nTill thou reach the grim foundation stone<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAnd knock at the keyless gate.”<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nI saw that a falsehood was planted deep<\/span><\/p>\n

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

\nWhere the grey Sphinx guards God’s riddle sleep<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tOn the Dragon’s outspread wings.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 536<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

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

\nI left the surface gauds of mind<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAnd life’s unsatisfied seas<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd plunged through the body’s alleys blind<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tTo the nether mysteries.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nI have delved through the dumb Earth’s dreadful heart<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAnd heard her black mass’ bell.<\/span><\/p>\n

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

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

\n <\/p>\n

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

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

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

\n\t\t\tI have walked in the bottomless pit.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

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

\n\t\t\tArmoured with boundless peace,<\/span><\/p>\n

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

\n\t\t\tInto the human abyss.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

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

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

\nI have heard His voice and borne His will<\/span><\/p>\n

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

\n <\/p>\n

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

\n\t\t\tAnd the golden waters pour<\/span><\/p>\n

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

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

\n <\/p>\n

\nHeaven’s fire is lit in the breast of the earth<\/span><\/p>\n

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

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

\n\t\t\tThe incarnate spirits yearn<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 537<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

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

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

\n\t\t\tDown a gold-red stairway wend<\/span><\/p>\n

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

\n\t\t\tClarioning darkness’ end.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nA little more and the new life’s doors<\/span><\/p>\n

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

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

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

\n <\/p>\n

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

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

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

\n\t\t\tThe living truth of you.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nHell and Heaven<\/a><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tIn the silence of the night-time,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tIn the grey and formless eve,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tWhen the thought is plagued with loveless<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tMemories that it cannot leave,<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tWhen the dawn makes sudden beauty<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tOf a peevish clouded sky,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAnd the rain is sobbing slowly<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAnd the wind makes weird reply,<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAlways comes her face before me<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAnd her voice is in my ear,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tBeautiful and sad and cruel<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tWith the azure eyes austere.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tCloudy figure once so luminous<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tWith the light and life within<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tWhen the soul came rippling outwards<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAnd the red lips laughed at sin!<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 538<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

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

\nCom’st thou with that marble visage<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tFrom what world instinct with pain<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWhere we pay the price of passion<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tBy a law our hearts disdain?<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nCast it from thee, O thou goddess!<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tEarning with a smile release<\/span><\/p>\n

\nFrom these sad imaginations,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tRise into celestial peace.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nTravel from the loveless places<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThat our mortal fears create,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWhere thy natural heavens claim thee<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAnd the Gods, thy brothers, wait.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nThen descend to me grown radiant,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tLighting up terrestrial ground<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWith the feet that brighten heaven<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tWhen the mighty dance goes round<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nAnd the high Gods beating measure<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tTread the maze that keeps the stars<\/span><\/p>\n

\nCircling in their luminous orbits<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThrough the eternal thoroughfares.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nAll below is but confusion<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tOf desires that strive and cry,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nSome forbidden, some achieving<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAnguish after ecstasy.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nBut above our radiant station<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tIs from which by doubt we fell,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nReaching only after Heaven<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAnd achieving only Hell.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 539<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

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

\nLet the heart be king and master,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tLet the brain exult and toil;<\/span><\/p>\n

\nDisbelieve in good and evil,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tGod with Nature reconcile.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nTherefore, O rebellious sweetness,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThou tookst arms for joy and love.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThere achieve them! Take possession<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tOf our radiant seats above.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nKamadeva<\/a><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tWhen in the heart of the valleys and hid by the roses<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe sweet Love lies,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tHas he wings to rise to his heavens or in the closes<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tLives and dies?<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tOn the peaks of the radiant mountains if we should meet him<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tProud and free,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tWill he not frown on the valleys? Would it befit him<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tChained to be?<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tWill you then speak of the one as a slave and a wanton,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe other too bare?<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tBut God is the only slave and the only monarch<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tWe declare.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tIt is God who is Love and a boy and a slave for our passion<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tHe was made to serve;<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tIt is God who is free and proud and the limitless tyrant<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tOur souls deserve.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

\n
\nLife<\/a><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tMystic daughter of Delight,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tLife, thou ecstasy,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tLet the radius of thy flight<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tBe eternity.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tOn thy wings thou bearest high<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tGlory and disdain,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tGodhead and mortality,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tEcstasy and pain.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tTake me in thy bold embrace<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tWithout weak reserve,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tBody dire and unveiled face;<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tFaint not, Life, nor swerve.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAll thy bliss I would explore,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAll thy tyranny.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tCruel like the lion’s roar,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tSweet like springtide be.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tLike a Titan I would take,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tLike a God enjoy,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tLike a man contend and make,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tRevel like a boy.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tMore I will not ask of thee,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tNor my fate would choose;<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tKing or conquered let me be,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tVanquish, Life, or lose.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tEven in rags I am a god;<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tFallen, I am divine;<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tHigh I triumph when down-trod,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tLong I live when slain.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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\n
\nOne Day<\/a><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe Little More<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nOne day, and all the half-dead is done,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tOne day, and all the unborn begun;<\/span><\/p>\n

\nA little path and the great goal,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tA touch that brings the divine whole.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nHill after hill was climbed and now,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tBehold, the last tremendous brow<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd the great rock that none has trod:<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tA step, and all is sky and God.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

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\t\t\t<\/p>\n

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

  Part Six   Baroda and Pondicherry Circa 1902 \u00ad 1936     Poems Past and Present     Musa Spiritus   O Word concealed…<\/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-2987","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\/2987","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=2987"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2987\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}