{"id":2989,"date":"2013-07-13T01:45:10","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:45:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=2989"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:45:10","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:45:10","slug":"11-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\/11-complete-narrative-poems-contd-vol-02-collected-poems","title":{"rendered":"-11_Complete Narrative Poems – contd.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\n\n
\n

 <\/td>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nLove and Death…contd.<\/span><\/b><\/i><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nEven sin may be a sumptuous sacrifice<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAcceptable for unholy fruits. But none<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOf these the inexorable shadow asks:<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAlone of gods Death loves not gifts: he visits<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe pure heart as the stained. Lo, the just man<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tBowed helpless over his dead, nor all his virtues<\/span><\/p>\n

\nShall quicken that cold bosom: near him the wild<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tMarred face and passionate and will not leave<\/span><\/p>\n

\nKissing dead lips that shall not chide him more.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tLife the pale ghost requires: with half thy life<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThou mayst protract the thread too early cut<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tOf that delightful spirit  \u2014  half
\n\t\t\tsweet life.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nO Ruru, lo, thy frail precarious days,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAnd yet how sweet they are! simply to breathe<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHow warm and sweet! And ordinary things<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tHow exquisite, thou then shalt learn when lost,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHow luminous the daylight was, mere sleep<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tHow soft and friendly clasping tired limbs,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd the deliciousness of common food.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAnd things indifferent thou then shalt want,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nRegret rejected beauty, brightnesses<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tBestowed in vain. Wilt thou yield up, O lover,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHalf thy sweet portion of this light and gladness,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThy little insufficient share, and vainly<\/span><\/p>\n

\nGive to another? She is not thyself:<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThou dost not feel the gladness in her bosom,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nNor with the torture of thy body will she<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThrob and cry out: at most with tender looks<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd pitiful attempt to feel move near thee,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAnd weep how far she is from what she loves.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nMen live like stars that see each other in heaven,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tBut one knows not the pleasure and the grief<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe others feel: he lonely rapture has,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tOr bears his incommunicable pain.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nO Ruru, there are many beautiful faces,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tBut one thyself. Think then how thou shalt mourn<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWhen thou hast shortened joy and feelst at last<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

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\nThe shadow that thou hadst for such sweet store."<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tHe ceased with a strange doubtful look. But swift<\/span><\/p>\n

\nCame back the lover’s voice, like passionate rain.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t"O idle words! For what is mere sunlight?<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWho would live on into extreme old age,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tBurden the impatient world, a weary old man,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd look back on a selfish time ill-spent<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tExacting out of prodigal great life<\/span><\/p>\n

\nSmall separate pleasures like an usurer,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAnd no rich sacrifice and no large act<\/span><\/p>\n

\nFinding oneself in others, nor the sweet<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tExpense of Nature in her passionate gusts<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOf love and giving, first of the soul’s needs?<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tWho is so coldly wise, and does not feel<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHow wasted were our grandiose human days<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tIn prudent personal unshared delights?<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWhy dost thou mock me, friend of all the stars?<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tHow canst thou be love’s god and know not this,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThat love burns down the body’s barriers cold<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAnd laughs at difference  \u2014  playing
\n\t\t\twith it merely<\/span><\/p>\n

\nTo make joy sweeter? O too deeply I know,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe lover is not different from the loved,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nNor is their silence dumb to each other. He<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tContains her heart and feels her body in his,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHe flushes with her heat, chills with her cold.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAnd when she dies, oh! when she dies, oh me,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe emptiness, the maim! the life no life,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe sweet and passionate oneness lost! And if<\/span><\/p>\n

\nBy shortening of great grief won back, O price<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tEasy! O glad briefness, aeons may envy!<\/span><\/p>\n

\nFor we shall live not fearing death, nor feel<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAs others yearning over the loved at night<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWhen the lamp flickers, sudden chills of dread<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tTerrible; nor at short absence agonise,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWrestling with mad imagination. Us<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tSerenely when the darkening shadow comes,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOne common sob shall end and soul clasp soul,<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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\n

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\nLeaving the body in a long dim kiss.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThen in the joys of heaven we shall consort,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAmid the gladness often touching hands<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tTo make bliss sure; or in the ghastly stream<\/span><\/p>\n

\nIf we must anguish, yet it shall not part<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tOur passionate limbs inextricably locked<\/span><\/p>\n

\nBy one strong agony, but we shall feel<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tHell’s pain half joy through sweet companionship.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nGod Love, I weary of words. O wing me rather<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tTo her, my eloquent princess of the spring,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nIn whatsoever wintry shores she roam."<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tHe ceased with eager forward eyes; once more<\/span><\/p>\n

\nA light of beauty immortal through the limbs<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tGleaming of the boy-god and soft sweet face,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nGlorifying him, flushed, and he replied:<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t"Go then, O thou dear youth, and bear this flower<\/span><\/p>\n

\nIn thy hand warily. For thou shalt come<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tTo that high meeting of the Ganges pure<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWith vague and violent Ocean. There arise<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAnd loudly appeal my brother, the wild sea."<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHe spoke and stretched out his immortal hand,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAnd Ruru’s met it. All his young limbs yearned<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWith dreadful rapture shuddering through them. He<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tFelt in his fingers subtle uncertain bloom,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nA quivering magnificence, half fire,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tWhose petals changed like flame, and from them
\n\t\t\tbreathed<\/span><\/p>\n

\nDangerous attraction and alarmed delight,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAs at a peril near. He raised his eyes,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nBut the green place was empty of the God.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tOnly the faery tree looked up at heaven<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThrough branches, and with recent pleasure shook.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThen over fading earth the night was lord.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nBut from Shatudru and Bipasha, streams<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tOnce holy, and loved Iravathi and swift<\/span><\/p>\n

\nClear Chandrabhaga and Bitosta’s toil<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tFor man, went Ruru to bright sumptuous lands<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

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\nBy Aryan fathers not yet paced, but wild,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tBut virgin to our fruitful human toil,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWhere Nature lay reclined in dumb delight<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAlone with woodlands and the voiceless hills.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHe with the widening yellow Ganges came,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAmazed, to trackless countries where few tribes,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nKirath and Poundrian, warred, worshipping trees<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAnd the great serpent. But robust wild earth,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nBut forests with their splendid life of beasts<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tSavage mastered those strong inhabitants.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThither came Ruru. In a thin soft eve<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tGanges spread far her multitudinous waves,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nA glimmering restlessness with voices large,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAnd from the forests of that half-seen bank<\/span><\/p>\n

\nA boat came heaving over it, white-winged,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tWith a sole silent helmsman marble-pale.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThen Ruru by his side stepped in; they went<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tDown the mysterious river and beheld<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe great banks widen out of sight. The world<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tWas water and the skies to water plunged.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAll night with a dim motion gliding down<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tHe felt the dark against his eyelids; felt,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAs in a dream more real than daylight,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe helmsman with his dumb and marble face<\/span><\/p>\n

\nNear him and moving wideness all around,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAnd that continual gliding dimly on,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAs one who on a shoreless water sails<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tFor ever to a port he shall not win.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nBut when the darkness paled, he heard a moan<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tOf mightier waves and had the wide great sense<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOf ocean and the depths below our feet.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tBut the boat stopped; the pilot lifted on him<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHis marble gaze coeval with the stars.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThen in the white-winged boat the boy arose<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd saw around him the vast sea all grey<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAnd heaving in the pallid dawning light.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nLoud Ruru cried across the murmur: "Hear me,<\/span><\/p>\n

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\nO inarticulate grey Ocean, hear.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tIf any cadence in thy infinite<\/span><\/p>\n

\nRumour was caught from lover’s moan, O Sea,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tOpen thy abysses to my mortal tread.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nFor I would travel to the despairing shades,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe spheres of suffering where entangled dwell<\/span><\/p>\n

\nSouls unreleased and the untimely dead<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tWho weep remembering. Thither, O, guide me,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nNo despicable wayfarer, but Ruru,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tBut son of a great Rishi, from all men<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOn earth selected for peculiar pangs,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tSpecial disaster. Lo, this petalled fire,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHow freshly it blooms and lasts with my great pain!"<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tHe held the flower out subtly glimmering.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd like a living thing the huge sea trembled,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThen rose, calling, and filled the sight with
\n\t\t\twaves,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nConverging all its giant crests; towards him<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tInnumerable waters loomed and heaven<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThreatened. Horizon on horizon moved<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tDreadfully swift; then with a prone wide sound<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAll Ocean hollowing drew him swiftly in,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tCurving with monstrous menace over him.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHe down the gulf where the loud waves collapsed<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tDescending, saw with floating hair arise<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe daughters of the sea in pale green light,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tA million mystic breasts suddenly bare,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd came beneath the flood and stunned beheld<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tA mute stupendous march of waters race<\/span><\/p>\n

\nTo reach some viewless pit beneath the world.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tGanges he saw, as men predestined rush<\/span><\/p>\n

\nUpon a fearful doom foreseen, so run,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAlarmed, with anguished speed, the river vast.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nVeiled to his eyes the triple goddess rose.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tShe with a sound of waters cried to him,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nA thousand voices moaning with one pain:<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t"Lover, who fearedst not sunlight to leave,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWith me thou mayst behold that helpless spirit<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

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\nLost in the gloom, if still thy burning bosom<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tHave courage to endure great Nature’s night<\/span><\/p>\n

\nIn the dire lands where I, a goddess, mourn<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tHurting my heart with my own cruelty."<\/span><\/p>\n

\nShe darkened to the ominous descent,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tUnwilling, and her once so human waves<\/span><\/p>\n

\nSent forth a cry not meant for living ears.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAnd Ruru chilled; but terrible strong love<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWas like a fiery finger in his breast<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPointing him on; so he through horror went<\/span><\/p>\n

\nConducted by inexorable sound.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tFor monstrous voices to his ear were close,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd bodiless terrors with their dimness seized him<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tIn an obscurity phantasmal. Thus<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWith agony of soul to the grey waste<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tHe came, glad of the pain of passage over,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAs men who through the storms of anguish strive<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tInto abiding tranquil dreariness<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd draw sad breath assured; to the grey waste,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tHopeless Patala, the immutable<\/span><\/p>\n

\nCountry, where neither sun nor rain arrives,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tNor happy labour of the human plough<\/span><\/p>\n

\nFruitfully turns the soil, but in vague sands<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAnd indeterminable strange rocks and caverns<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThat into silent blackness huge recede,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tDwell the great serpent and his hosts, writhed
\n\t\t\tforms,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nSinuous, abhorred, through many horrible leagues<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tCoiling in a half darkness. Shapes he saw,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd heard the hiss and knew the lambent light<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tLoathsome, but passed compelling his strong soul.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAt last through those six tired hopeless worlds,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tToo hopeless far for grief, pale he arrived<\/span><\/p>\n

\nInto a nether air by anguish moved,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAnd heard before him cries that pierced the
\n\t\t\theart,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHuman, not to be borne, and issued shaken<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tBy the great river accursed. Maddened it ran,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnguished, importunate, and in its waves<\/span><\/p>\n

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\nThe drifting ghosts their agony endured.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThere Ruru saw pale faces float of kings<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd grandiose victors and revered high priests<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAnd famous women. Now rose from the wave<\/span><\/p>\n

\nA golden shuddering arm and now a face.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tTorn piteous sides were seen and breasts that
\n\t\t\tquailed.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOver them moaned the penal waters on,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAnd had no joy of their fierce cruelty.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThen Ruru, his young cheeks with pity wan,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tHalf moaned: "O miserable race of men,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWith violent and passionate souls you come<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tForedoomed upon the earth and live brief days<\/span><\/p>\n

\nIn fear and anguish, catching at stray beams<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tOf sunlight, little fragrances of flowers;<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThen from your spacious earth in a great horror<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tDescend into this night, and here too soon<\/span><\/p>\n

\nMust expiate your few inadequate joys.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tO bargain hard! Death helps us not. He leads<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAlarmed, all shivering from his chill embrace,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe naked spirit here. O my sweet flower,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nArt thou too whelmed in this fierce wailing flood?<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAh me! But I will haste and deeply plunge<\/span><\/p>\n

\nInto its hopeless pools and either bring<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThy old warm beauty back beneath the stars,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOr find thee out and clasp thy tortured bosom<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAnd kiss thy sweet wrung lips and hush thy cries.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nLove shall draw half thy pain into my limbs;<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThen we shall triumph glad of agony."<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHe ceased and one replied close by his ear:<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t"O thou who troublest with thy living eyes<\/span><\/p>\n

\nEstablished death, pass on. She whom thou seekest<\/span><\/p>\n

\nRolls not in the accursed tide. For late<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI saw her mid those pale inhabitants<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWhom bodily anguish visits not, but thoughts<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tSorrowful and dumb memories absolve,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd martyrdom of scourged hearts quivering."<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tHe turned and saw astride the dolorous flood<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

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\n\t\t\tA mighty bridge paved with mosaic fire,<\/p>\n

\nAll restless, and a woman clothed in flame,<\/p>\n

\nWith hands calamitous that held a sword,<\/p>\n

\nStood of the quaking passage sentinel.<\/p>\n

\nMagnificent and dire her burning face.<\/p>\n

\n"Pass on," she said once more, "O Bhrigu’s son;<\/p>\n

\nThe flower protects thee from my hands." She stretched<\/p>\n

\nOne arm towards him and with violence<\/p>\n

\nMajestic over the horrid arch compelled.<\/p>\n

\nUnhurt, though shaking from her touch, alone<\/p>\n

\nHe stood upon an inner bank with strange<\/p>\n

\nBlack dreary mosses covered and perceived<\/p>\n

\nA dim and level plain without one flower.<\/p>\n

\nOver it paced a multitude immense<\/p>\n

\nWith gentle faces occupied by pain;<\/p>\n

\nStrong men were there and grieving mothers, girls<\/p>\n

\nWith early beauty in their limbs and young<\/p>\n

\nSad children of their childlike faces robbed.<\/p>\n

\nNaked they paced with falling hair and gaze<\/p>\n

\nDrooping upon their bosoms, weak as flowers<\/p>\n

\nThat die for want of rain unmurmuring.<\/p>\n

\nAlways a silence was upon the place.<\/p>\n

\nBut Ruru came among them. Suddenly<\/p>\n

\nOne felt him there and looked, and as a wind<\/p>\n

\nMoves over a still field of patient corn,<\/p>\n

\nAnd the ears stir and shudder and look up<\/p>\n

\nAnd bend innumerably flowing, so<\/p>\n

\nAll those dumb spirits stirred and through them passed<\/p>\n

\nOne shuddering motion of raised faces; then<\/p>\n

\nThey streamed towards him without sound and caught<\/p>\n

\nWith desperate hands his robe or touched his hair<\/p>\n

\nOr strove to feel upon them living breath.<\/p>\n

\nPale girls and quiet children came and knelt<\/p>\n

\nAnd with large sorrowful eyes into his looked.<\/p>\n

\nYet with their silent passion the cold hush<\/p>\n

\nMoved not; but Ruru’s human heart half burst<\/p>\n

\nWith burden of so many sorrows; tears<\/p>\n

\n

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\nWelled from him; he with anguish understood<\/p>\n

\nThat terrible and wordless sympathy<\/p>\n

\nOf dead souls for the living. Then he turned<\/p>\n

\nHis eyes and scanned their lovely faces strange<\/p>\n

\nFor that one face and found it not. He paled,<\/p>\n

\nAnd spoke vain words into the listless air:<\/p>\n

\n"O spirits once joyous, miserable race,<\/p>\n

\nHappier if the old gladness were forgot!<\/p>\n

\nMy soul yearns with your sorrow. Yet ah! reveal<\/p>\n

\nIf dwell my love in your sad nation lost.<\/p>\n

\nWell may you know her, O wan beautiful spirits!<\/p>\n

\nBut she most beautiful of all that died,<\/p>\n

\nBy sweetness recognisable. Her name<\/p>\n

\nThe sunshine knew." Speaking his tears made way:<\/p>\n

\nBut they with dumb lips only looked at him,<\/p>\n

\nA vague and empty mourning in their eyes.<\/p>\n

\nHe murmured low: "Ah, folly! were she here,<\/p>\n

\nWould she not first have felt me, first have raised<\/p>\n

\nHer lids and run to me, leaned back her face<\/p>\n

\nOf silent sorrow on my breast and looked<\/p>\n

\nWith the old altered eyes into my own<\/p>\n

\nAnd striven to make my anguish understand?<\/p>\n

\nOh joy, had she been here! for though her lips<\/p>\n

\nOf their old excellent music quite were robbed,<\/p>\n

\nYet her dumb passion would have spoken to me;<\/p>\n

\nWe should have understood each other and walked<\/p>\n

\nSilently hand in hand, almost content."<\/p>\n

\nHe said and passed through those untimely dead.<\/p>\n

\nSpeechless they followed him with clinging eyes.<\/p>\n

\nThen to a solemn building weird he came<\/p>\n

\nWith grave colossal pillars round. One dome<\/p>\n

\nRoofed the whole brooding edifice, like cloud,<\/p>\n

\nAnd at the door strange shapes were pacing, armed.<\/p>\n

\nThen from their fear the sweet and mournful dead<\/p>\n

\nDrew back, returning to their wordless grief.<\/p>\n

\nBut Ruru to the perilous doorway strode,<\/p>\n

\nAnd those disastrous shapes upon him raised<\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 135<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nTheir bows and aimed; but he held out Love’s flower,<\/p>\n

\nAnd with stern faces checked they let him pass.<\/p>\n

\nHe entered and beheld a silent hall<\/p>\n

\nDim and unbounded; moving then like one<\/p>\n

\nWho up a dismal stair seeks ever light,<\/p>\n

\nAttained a dais brilliant doubtfully<\/p>\n

\nWith flaming pediment and round it coiled<\/p>\n

\nPython and Naga monstrous, Joruthcaru,<\/p>\n

\nTuxuc and Vasuki himself, immense,<\/p>\n

\nMagic Carcotaca all flecked with fire;<\/p>\n

\nAnd many other prone destroying shapes<\/p>\n

\nCoiled. On the wondrous dais rose a throne,<\/p>\n

\nAnd he its pedestal whose lotus hood<\/p>\n

\nWith ominous beauty crowns his horrible<\/p>\n

\nSleek folds, great Mahapudma; high displayed<\/p>\n

\nHe bears the throne of Death. There sat supreme<\/p>\n

\nWith those compassionate and lethal eyes,<\/p>\n

\nWho many names, who many natures holds;<\/p>\n

\nYama, the strong pure Hades sad and subtle,<\/p>\n

\nDharma, who keeps the laws of old untouched,<\/p>\n

\nCritanta, who ends all things and at last<\/p>\n

\nHimself shall end. On either side of him<\/p>\n

\nThe four-eyed dogs mysterious rested prone,<\/p>\n

\nWatchful, with huge heads on their paws advanced;<\/p>\n

\nAnd emanations of the godhead dim<\/p>\n

\nMoved near him, shadowy or serpentine,<\/p>\n

\nVast Time and cold irreparable Death.<\/p>\n

\nThen Ruru came and bowed before the throne;<\/p>\n

\nAnd swaying all those figures stirred as shapes<\/p>\n

\nUpon a tapestry moved by the wind,<\/p>\n

\nAnd the sad voice was heard: "What breathing man<\/p>\n

\nBows at the throne of Hades? By what force,<\/p>\n

\nSpiritual or communicated, troubles<\/p>\n

\nHis living beauty the dead grace of Hell?"<\/p>\n

\nAnd one replied who seemed a neighbouring voice:<\/p>\n

\n"He has the blood of Gods and Titans old.<\/p>\n

\nAn Apsara his mother liquid-orbed<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 136<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

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

\nBore to the youthful Chyavan’s strong embrace<\/p>\n

\nThis passionate face of earth with Eden touched.<\/p>\n

\nChyavan was Bhrigu’s child, Puloma bore,<\/p>\n

\nThe Titaness,  \u2014  Bhrigu, great Brahma’s son.<\/p>\n

\nLove gave the flower that helps by anguish; therefore<\/p>\n

\nHe chilled not with the breath of Hades, nor<\/p>\n

\nThe cry of the infernal stream made stone."<\/p>\n

\nBut at the name of Love all hell was moved.<\/p>\n

\nDeath’s throne half faded into twilight; hissed<\/p>\n

\nThe phantoms serpentine as if in pain,<\/p>\n

\nAnd the dogs raised their dreadful heads. Then spoke<\/p>\n

\nYama: "And what needs Love in this pale realm,<\/p>\n

\nThe warm great Love? All worlds his breath confounds,<\/p>\n

\nMars solemn order and old steadfastness.<\/p>\n

\nBut not in Hell his legates come and go;<\/p>\n

\nHis vernal jurisdiction to bare Hell<\/p>\n

\nExtends not. This last world resists his power<\/p>\n

\nYouthful, anarchic. Here will he enlarge<\/p>\n

\nTumult and wanton joys?" The voice replied:<\/p>\n

\n"M\u00e9naca momentary on the earth,<\/p>\n

\nHeaven’s Apsara by the fleeting hours beguiled<\/p>\n

\nPlayed in the happy hidden glens; there bowed<\/p>\n

\nTo yoke of swift terrestrial joys she bore,<\/p>\n

\nImmortal, to that fair Gundhurva king<\/p>\n

\nA mortal blossom of delight. That bloom<\/p>\n

\nYoung Ruru found and plucked, but her too soon<\/p>\n

\nThy fatal hooded snake on earth surprised,<\/p>\n

\nAnd he through gloom now travels armed by Love."<\/p>\n

\nBut then all Hades swaying towards him cried:<\/p>\n

\n"O mortal, O misled! But sacrifice<\/p>\n

\nIs stronger, nor may law of Hell or Heaven<\/p>\n

\nIts fierce effectual action supersede.<\/p>\n

\nThy dead I yield. Yet thou bethink thee, mortal,<\/p>\n

\nNot as a tedious evil nor to be<\/p>\n

\nLightly rejected gave the gods old age,<\/p>\n

\nBut tranquil, but august, but making easy<\/p>\n

\nThe steep ascent to God. Therefore must Time<\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 137<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nStill batter down the glory and form of youth<\/p>\n

\nAnd animal magnificent strong ease,<\/p>\n

\nTo warn the earthward man that he is spirit<\/p>\n

\nDallying with transience, nor by death he ends,<\/p>\n

\nNor to the dumb warm mother’s arms is bound,<\/p>\n

\nBut called unborn into the unborn skies.<\/p>\n

\nFor body fades with the increasing soul<\/p>\n

\nAnd wideness of its limit grown intolerant<\/p>\n

\nReplaces life’s impetuous joys by peace.<\/p>\n

\nYouth, manhood, ripeness, age, four seasons<\/p>\n

\nTwixt its return and pale departing life<\/p>\n

\nDescribes, O mortal,  \u2014  youth that forward bends<\/p>\n

\nMidst hopes, delights and dreamings; manhood deepens<\/p>\n

\nTo passions, toils and thoughts profound; but ripeness<\/p>\n

\nFor large reflective gathering-up of these,<\/p>\n

\nAs on a lonely slope whence men look back<\/p>\n

\nDown towards the cities and the human fields<\/p>\n

\nWhere they too worked and laughed and loved; next age,<\/p>\n

\nWonderful age with those approaching skies.<\/p>\n

\nThat boon wilt thou renounce? Wherefore? To bring<\/p>\n

\nFor a few years  \u2014  how miserably few!  \u2014 <\/p>\n

\nHer sunward who must after all return.<\/p>\n

\nAh, son of Rishis, cease. Lo, I remit<\/p>\n

\nHell’s grasp, not oft relinquished, and send back<\/p>\n

\nThy beautiful life unborrowed to the stars.<\/p>\n

\nOr thou must render to the immutable<\/p>\n

\nTotal all thy fruit-bearing years; then she<\/p>\n

\nReblossoms." But the Shadow antagonist:<\/p>\n

\n"Let him be shown the glory he would renounce."<\/p>\n

\nAnd over the flaming pediment there moved,<\/p>\n

\nAs on a frieze a march of sculptures, carved<\/p>\n

\nBy Phidias for the Virgin strong and pure,<\/p>\n

\nMost perfect once of all things seen in earth<\/p>\n

\nOr Heaven, in Athens on the Acropolis,<\/p>\n

\nBut now dismembered, now disrupt! or as<\/p>\n

\nIn Buddhist cavern or Orissan temple,<\/p>\n

\nLarge aspirations architectural,<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 138<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

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

\nWarrior and dancing-girl, adept and king,<\/p>\n

\nAnd conquering pomps and daily peaceful groups<\/p>\n

\nDream delicately on, softening with beauty<\/p>\n

\nGreat Bhuvanayshwar, the Almighty’s house,<\/p>\n

\nWith sculptural suggestion so were limned<\/p>\n

\nScenes future on a pediment of fire.<\/p>\n

\nThere Ruru saw himself divine with age,<\/p>\n

\nA Rishi to whom infinity is close,<\/p>\n

\nRejoicing in some green song-haunted glade<\/p>\n

\nOr boundless mountain-top where most we feel<\/p>\n

\nWideness, not by small happy things disturbed.<\/p>\n

\nAround him, as around an ancient tree<\/p>\n

\nIts seedlings, forms august or flame-like rose;<\/p>\n

\nThey grew beneath his hands and were his work;<\/p>\n

\nGreat kings were there whom time remembers, fertile<\/p>\n

\nDeep minds and poets with their chanting lips<\/p>\n

\nWhose words were seed of vast philosophies  \u2014 <\/p>\n

\nThese worshipped; above this earth’s half-day he saw<\/p>\n

\nAmazed the dawn of that mysterious Face<\/p>\n

\nAnd all the universe in beauty merge.<\/p>\n

\nMad the boy thrilled upwards, then spent ebbed back.<\/p>\n

\nOver his mind, as birds across the sky<\/p>\n

\nSweep and are gone, the vision of those fields<\/p>\n

\nAnd drooping faces came; almost he heard<\/p>\n

\nThe burdened river with human anguish wail.<\/p>\n

\nThen with a sudden fury gathering<\/p>\n

\nHis soul he hurled out of it half its life,<\/p>\n

\nAnd fell, like lightning, prone. Triumphant rose<\/p>\n

\nThe Shadow chill and deepened giant night.<\/p>\n

\nOnly the dais flickered in the gloom,<\/p>\n

\nAnd those snake-eyes of cruel fire subdued.<\/p>\n

\nBut suddenly a bloom, a fragrance. Hell<\/p>\n

\nShuddered with bliss: resentful, overborne,<\/p>\n

\nThe world-besetting Terror faded back<\/p>\n

\nLike one grown weak by desperate victory,<\/p>\n

\nAnd a voice cried in Ruru’s tired soul:<\/p>\n

\n"Arise! the strife is over, easy now<\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 139<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nThe horror that thou hast to face, the burden<\/p>\n

\nNow shared." And with a sudden burst like spring<\/p>\n

\nLife woke in the strong lover over-tried.<\/p>\n

\nHe rose and left dim Death. Twelve times he crossed<\/p>\n

\nBoithorini, the river dolorous,<\/p>\n

\nTwelve times resisted Hell and, hurried down<\/p>\n

\nInto the ominous pit where plunges black<\/p>\n

\nThe vast stream thundering, saw, led puissantly<\/p>\n

\nFrom night to unimaginable night,  \u2014 <\/p>\n

\nAs men oppressed in dreams, who cannot wake,<\/p>\n

\nBut measure penal visions,  \u2014  punishments<\/p>\n

\nWhose sight pollutes, unheard-of tortures, pangs<\/p>\n

\nMonstrous, intolerable mute agonies,<\/p>\n

\nTwisted unmoving attitudes of pain,<\/p>\n

\nLike thoughts inhuman in statuary. A fierce<\/p>\n

\nAnd iron voicelessness had grasped those worlds.<\/p>\n

\nNo horror of cries expressed their endless woe,<\/p>\n

\nNo saving struggle, no breathings of the soul.<\/p>\n

\nAnd in the last hell irremediable<\/p>\n

\nWhere Ganges clots into that fatal pool,<\/p>\n

\nAppalled he saw her; pallid, listless, bare  \u2014 <\/p>\n

\nO other than that earthly warmth and grace<\/p>\n

\nIn which the happy roses deepened and dimmed<\/p>\n

\nWith come-and-go of swift enamoured blood!<\/p>\n

\nDumb drooped she; round her shapes of anger armed<\/p>\n

\nStood dark like thunder-clouds. But Ruru sprang<\/p>\n

\nUpon them, burning with the admitted God.<\/p>\n

\nThey from his touch like ineffectual fears<\/p>\n

\nVanished; then sole with her, trembling he cried<\/p>\n

\nThe old glad name and crying bent to her<\/p>\n

\nAnd touched, and at the touch the silent knots<\/p>\n

\nOf Hell were broken and its sombre dream<\/p>\n

\nOf dreadful stately pains at once dispersed.<\/p>\n

\nThen as from one whom a surpassing joy<\/p>\n

\nHas conquered, all the bright surrounding world<\/p>\n

\nStreams swiftly into distance, and he feels<\/p>\n

\nHis daily senses slipping from his grasp,<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 140<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

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

\nSo that unbearable enormous world<\/p>\n

\nWent rolling mighty shades, like the wet mist<\/p>\n

\nFrom men on mountain-tops; and sleep outstretched<\/p>\n

\nRising its soft arms towards him and his thoughts,<\/p>\n

\nAs on a bed, sank to ascending void.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tBut when he woke, he heard the ko\u00efl  insist<\/p>\n

\nOn sweetness and the voice of happy things<\/p>\n

\nContent with sunlight. The warm sense was round him<\/p>\n

\nOf old essential earth, known hues and custom<\/p>\n

\nFamiliar tranquillising body and mind,<\/p>\n

\nAs in its natural wave a lotus feels.<\/p>\n

\nHe looked and saw all grass and dense green trees,<\/p>\n

\nAnd sunshine and a single grasshopper<\/p>\n

\nNear him repeated fierily its note.<\/p>\n

\nThrilling he felt beneath his bosom her;<\/p>\n

\nOh, warm and breathing were those rescued limbs<\/p>\n

\nAgainst the greenness, vivid, palpable, white,<\/p>\n

\nWith great black hair and real and her cheek’s<\/p>\n

\nOld softness and her mouth a dewy rose.<\/p>\n

\nFor many moments comforting his soul<\/p>\n

\nWith all her jasmine body sun-ensnared<\/p>\n

\nHe fed his longing eyes and, half in doubt,<\/p>\n

\nWith touches satisfied himself of her.<\/p>\n

\nHesitating he kissed her eyelids. Sighing<\/p>\n

\nWith a slight sob she woke and earthly large<\/p>\n

\nHer eyes looked upward into his. She stretched<\/p>\n

\nHer arms up, yearning, and their souls embraced;<\/p>\n

\nThen twixt brief sobbing laughter and blissful tears,<\/p>\n

\nClinging with all her limbs to him, "O love,<\/p>\n

\nThe green green world! the warm sunlight!" and ceased,<\/p>\n

\nFinding no words; but the earth breathed round them,<\/p>\n

\nGlad of her children, and the ko\u00efl ‘s voice<\/p>\n

\nPersisted in the morning of the world.<\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 141<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\nA NOTE ON LOVE AND DEATH<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nThe story of Ruru and Pramadvura  \u2014  I have substituted a name more
\nmanageable to the English tongue  \u2014  her death in the forest by the
\nsnake and restoration at the price of half her husband’s life is told in the
\nMahabharata. It is a companion legend to the story of Savitri but not being told
\nwith any poetic skill or beauty has remained generally unknown. I have attempted
\nin this poem to bring it out of its obscurity. For full success, however, it
\nshould have had a more faithfully Hindu colouring, but it was written a score of
\nyears ago when I had not penetrated to the heart of the Indian idea and its
\ntraditions, and the shadow of the Greek underworld and Tartarus with the
\nsentiment of life and love and death which hangs about them has got into the
\nlegendary framework of the Indian Patala and hells. The central idea of the
\nnarrative alone is in the Mahabharata; the meeting with Kama and the descent
\ninto Hell were additions necessitated by the poverty of incident in the original
\nstory.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 142<\/font><\/p>\n

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

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

  Love and Death…contd.   Even sin may be a sumptuous sacrifice Acceptable for unholy fruits. But none Of these the inexorable shadow asks: Alone…<\/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-2989","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\/2989","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=2989"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2989\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}