{"id":3390,"date":"2013-07-13T01:48:02","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:48:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=3390"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:48:02","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:48:02","slug":"26-book-3-canto-4-the-vision-and-the-boon-vol-01-savitri-1950","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/02-other-editions\/01-savitri\/01-savitri-1950\/26-book-3-canto-4-the-vision-and-the-boon-vol-01-savitri-1950","title":{"rendered":"-26_Book 3 Canto 4 The Vision and The Boon.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\n

<\/p>\n

CANTO FOUR<\/font><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

THE VISION AND THE BOON<\/font><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\t\t\t <\/td>\n\n

\n

<\/p>\n

 <\/font><\/b><\/span>THEN
\nsuddenly there rose a sacred stir.<\/p>\n

\nAmid the lifeless silence of the Void<\/p>\n

\n

\nIn a solitude and an immensity<\/p>\n

\n

\nA sound came quivering like a loved footfall<\/p>\n

\n

\nHeard in the listening spaces of the soul;<\/p>\n

\n

\nA touch perturbed his fibres with delight.<\/p>\n

\n

\nAn influence had approached the mortal range,<\/p>\n

\n

\nA boundless Heart was near his longing heart,<\/p>\n

\n

\nA mystic Form enveloped his earthly shape.<\/p>\n

\n

\nAll at her contact broke from silence’ seal;<\/p>\n

\n

\nSpirit and body thrilled identified,<\/p>\n

\n

\nLinked in the grasp of an unspoken joy; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nMind, members, life were merged in
\necstasy.<\/p>\n

\nIntoxicated as with nectarous rain<\/p>\n

\n

\nHis nature’s passioning stretches flowed to her<\/p>\n

\n

\nFlashing with lightnings, mad with luminous wine.<\/p>\n

\n

\nAll was a limitless sea that heaved to the moon.<\/p>\n

\n

\nA divinising stream possessed his veins,<\/p>\n

\n

\nHis body’s cells awoke to spirit sense,<\/p>\n

\n

\nEach nerve became a burning thread of joy: <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nTissue and flesh partook beatitude. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAlight, the dun unplumbed
\nsubconscient caves <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThrilled with the prescience of her
\nlonged-for tread <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd filled with flickering crests
\nand praying tongues. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nEven lost in slumber; mute,
\ninanimate <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHis very body answered to her
\npower. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe One he worshipped was within
\nhim now: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nFlame-pure ethereal-tressed a
\nmighty Face<\/p>\n

\nAppeared and lips moved by immortal words; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nLids, wisdom’s leaves, drooped over
\nrapture’s orbs.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Page   303<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

\nA marble monument of ponderings,
\nshone <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA forehead, sight’s crypt, and
\nlarge like ocean’s gaze <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nTowards Heaven two tranquil eyes of
\nboundless thought <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nLooked into man’s and saw the god
\nto come. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA shape was seen on threshold Mind,
\na Voice <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAbsolute and wise in the heart’s
\nchambers spoke: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n"0 Son of Strength who climbst
\ncreation’s peaks,<\/p>\n

\nNo soul is thy companion in the light,<\/p>\n

\n

\nAlone thou standest at the eternal doors.<\/p>\n

\n

\nWhat thou hast won is thine, but ask no more.<\/p>\n

\n

\n0 Spirit aspiring in an ignorant frame,<\/p>\n

\n

\n0 Voice arisen from the Inconscient’s world,<\/p>\n

\n

\nHow shalt thou speak for men whose hearts are dumb,<\/p>\n

\n

\nMake purblind earth the soul’s seer-vision’s home<\/p>\n

\n

\nOr lighten the burden of the senseless globe?<\/p>\n

\n

\nI am the Mystery beyond reach of mind,<\/p>\n

\n

\nI am the goal of the travail of the suns; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nMy fire and sweetness are the cause
\nof life.<\/p>\n

\nBut too immense my danger and my joy.<\/p>\n

\n

\nAwake not the immeasurable descent,<\/p>\n

\n

\nSpeak not my secret name to hostile Time; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nMan is too weak to bear the
\nInfinite’s weight.<\/p>\n

\nTruth born too soon might break the imperfect earth.<\/p>\n

\n

\nLeave the all-seeing Power to hew its way: <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nIn thy single vast achievement
\nreign apart<\/p>\n

\nHelping the world with thy great lonely days.<\/p>\n

\n

\nI ask thee not to merge thy heart of flame<\/p>\n

\n

\nIn the Immobile’s wide uncaring bliss,<\/p>\n

\n

\nTurned from the fruitless motion of the years,<\/p>\n

\n

\nDeserting the fierce labour of the worlds,<\/p>\n

\n

\nAloof from beings, lost in the Alone.<\/p>\n

\n

\nHow shall thy mighty spirit brook repose<\/p>\n

\n

\nWhile Death is still unconquered on the earth<\/p>\n

\n

\nAnd Time a field of suffering and pain?<\/p>\n

\n

\nThy soul was born to share the laden Force; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nObey thy nature and fulfil thy
\nfate: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAccept the difficulty and godlike
\ntoil, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nFor the slow-paced omniscient
\npurpose live. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe Enigma’s knot is tied in human
\nkind. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA lightning from the heights that
\nthink and plan, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nPage  304<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n


\nPloughing the air of life with vanishing trails,<\/font><\/p>\n


\nMan, sole awake in an unconscious world, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\nAspires in vain to change the
\ncosmic dream.<\/p>\n

\nArrived from some half-luminous Beyond<\/p>\n

\n

\nHe is a stranger in the mindless vasts,<\/p>\n

\n

\nA traveller in his oft-shifting home<\/p>\n

\n

\nAmid the tread of many infinitudes,<\/p>\n

\n

\nHe has pitched a tent ‘of life in desert Space.<\/p>\n

\n

\nHeaven’s fixed regard beholds him from above,<\/p>\n

\n

\nIn the house, of Nature a perturbing guest,<\/p>\n

\n

\nA voyager twixt Thought’s inconstant shores,<\/p>\n

\n

\nA hunter of unknown and beautiful Powers,<\/p>\n

\n

\nA nomad of the far mysterious Light,<\/p>\n

\n

\nIn the wide ways a little spark of God.<\/p>\n

\n

\nAgainst his spirit all is in dire league,<\/p>\n

\n

\nA Titan influence stops his Godward gaze.<\/p>\n

\n

\nAround him hungers the unpitying Void,<\/p>\n

\n

\nThe eternal Darkness seeks him with her hands,<\/p>\n

\n

\nInscrutable Energies drive him and deceive,<\/p>\n

\n

\nImmense implacable deities oppose.<\/p>\n

\n

\nAn inert Soul and a somnambulist Force<\/p>\n

\n

\nHave made a world estranged from life and thought,<\/p>\n

\n

\nThe Dragon of the dark foundations keeps<\/p>\n

\n

\nUnalterable the law of Chance and Death; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nOn his long way through Time and
\nCircumstance<\/p>\n

\nThe grey-hued riddling nether shadow-Sphinx,<\/p>\n

\n

\nHer dreadful paws upon the swallowing sands,<\/p>\n

\n

\nAwaits him armed with the soul-slaying word: <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nAcross his path sits the dim camp
\nof Night.<\/p>\n

\nHis day is a moment in perpetual Time; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nHe is the prey of the minutes and
\nthe hours.<\/p>\n

\nAssailed on earth and unassured of heaven,<\/p>\n

\n

\nDescended here unhappy and sublime,<\/p>\n

\n

\nA link between the demigod and the beast,<\/p>\n

\n

\nHe knows not his own greatness nor his aim; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nHe has forgotten why he has come
\nand whence; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHis spirit and his members are at
\nwar; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHis heights break off too low to
\nreach the skies,<\/p>\n

\nHis mass is buried in the animal mire.<\/p>\n

\n

\nA strange antinomy is his nature’s rule. <\/p>\n

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

\n<\/p>\n

Page  305<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nA riddle of opposites is made his
\nfield: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nFreedom he asks but needs to live
\nin bonds,<\/p>\n

\nHe has need of darkness to perceive some light<\/p>\n

\n

\nAnd need of grief to feel a little bliss,<\/p>\n

\n

\nHe has need of death to find a greater life.<\/p>\n

\n

\nAll sides he sees and turns to every call; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nHe has no certain light by which to
\nwalk; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHis life is a blind-man’s-buff, a
\nhide and seek; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHe seeks himself and from himself
\nhe runs; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nMeeting himself, he thinks it other
\nthan he.,<\/p>\n

\nAlways he builds, but finds no constant ground,<\/p>\n

\n

\nAlways he journeys, but nowhere arrives; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nHe would guide the world, himself
\nhe cannot guide; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHe would save his soul, his life he
\ncannot save.<\/p>\n

\nThe light his soul has brought his mind has lost; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nAll he has learned is soon again in
\ndoubt; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA sun to him seems the shadow of
\nhis thoughts,<\/p>\n

\nThen all is shadow again and nothing is true: <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nUnknowing what he does or whither
\nhe tends<\/p>\n

\nHe fabricates signs of the Real in Ignorance.<\/p>\n

\n

\nHe has hitched his mortal error to Truth’s star.<\/p>\n

\n

\nWisdom attracts him with her luminous masks,<\/p>\n

\n

\nBut never has he seen the face behind: <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nA giant Ignorance surrounds his
\nlore.<\/p>\n

\nAssigned to meet the cosmic mystery<\/p>\n

\n

\nIn the dumb figure of a material world,<\/p>\n

\n

\nHis passport of entry false and his personage,<\/p>\n

\n

\nHe is compelled to be what he is not; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nHe obeys the Inconscience he has
\ncome to rule<\/p>\n

\nAnd sinks in Matter to fulfil his soul.<\/p>\n

\n

\nAwakened from her lower driven forms<\/p>\n

\n

\nThe Earth-Mother gave her forces to his hands<\/p>\n

\n

\nAnd painfully he guards the heavy trust; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nHis mind is a lost torch-bearer on
\nher roads.<\/p>\n

\nIllumining breath to think and plasm to feel,<\/p>\n

\n

\nHe labours with his slow and sceptic brain<\/p>\n

\n

\nHelped by the reason’s vacillating fires,<\/p>\n

\n

\nTo make his thought and will a magic door<\/p>\n

\n

\nFor knowledge to enter the darkness of the world<\/p>\n

\n

\nAnd love to rule a realm of strife and hate.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n<\/p>\n

Page  306<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nA mind impotent to reconcile heaven
\nand earth<\/p>\n

\nAnd tied to Matter with a thousand bonds,<\/p>\n

\n

\nHe lifts himself to be a conscious god.<\/p>\n

\n

\nEven when a glory of wisdom crowns his brow,<\/p>\n

\n

\nWhen mind and spirit shed a grandiose ray<\/p>\n

\n

\nTo exalt this product of the sperm and gene,<\/p>\n

\n

\nThis alchemist’s miracle from plasm and gas,<\/p>\n

\n

\nAnd he who shared the animal’s run and crawl,<\/p>\n

\n

\nLifts his thought-stature to the Immortal’s heights,<\/p>\n

\n

\nHis life still keeps the human middle way;
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nHis body he resigns to death and
\npain,<\/p>\n

\nAbandoning Matter, his too heavy charge.<\/p>\n

\n

\nA thaumaturge sceptic of miracles,<\/p>\n

\n

\nA spirit left sterile of its occult power<\/p>\n

\n

\nBy an unbelieving brain and credulous heart<\/p>\n

\n

\nHe leaves the world to end where it began: <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nHis work unfinished he claims a
\nheavenly prize.<\/p>\n

\nThus has he missed creation’s absolute.<\/p>\n

\n

\nHalfway he stops his star of destiny: <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nA vast and vain long-tried
\nexperiment,<\/p>\n

\nAn ill-served high conception doubtfully done,<\/p>\n

\n

\nThe world’s life falters on not seeing its goal,<\/p>\n

\n

\nA zigzag towards unknown dangerous ground<\/p>\n

\n

\nEver repeating its habitual walk,<\/p>\n

\n

\nEver retreating after marches long<\/p>\n

\n

\nAnd hardiest victories without sure result,<\/p>\n

\n

\nDrawn endlessly an inconclusive game.<\/p>\n

\n

\nIn an ill-fitting and voluminous robe<\/p>\n

\n

\nA radiant purpose still conceals its face,<\/p>\n

\n

\nA mighty blindness stumbles hoping on<\/p>\n

\n

\nFeeding its strength on gifts of luminous Chance.<\/p>\n

\n

\nBecause the human instrument has failed,<\/p>\n

\n

\nThe Godhead frustrate sleeps within its seed,<\/p>\n

\n

\nA spirit entangled in the forms it made.<\/p>\n

\n

\nHis failure is not failure whom God leads; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nThrough all the slow mysterious
\nmarch goes on: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAn immutable Power has made this
\nmutable world; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA self-fulfilling transcendence
\ntreads man’s road; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe driver of the soul upon its
\npath,<\/p>\n

\nIt knows its steps, its way is inevitable <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n<\/p>\n

Page  307<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nAnd how shall the end be vain when
\nGod is guide?<\/p>\n

\nHowever man’s mind may tire or fail his flesh,<\/p>\n

\n

\nA will prevails cancelling his conscious choice: .<\/p>\n

\n

\nThe goal recedes, a bourneless vastness calls<\/p>\n

\n

\nRetreating into an immense Unknown; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nThere is no end to the world’s
\nstupendous march, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThere is no rest for the embodied
\nsoul. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIt must live on, describe all
\nTime’s huge curve. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAn Influx presses from the closed
\nBeyond <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nForbidding to him rest and earthly
\nease, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nTill he has found himself he cannot
\npause. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA Light there is that leads, a
\nPower that aids; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nUnmarked, unfelt it sees in him and
\nacts: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIgnorant, he forms the
\nAll-conscient in his depths,<\/p>\n

\nHuman, looks up to superhuman peaks: <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nA borrower of Supemature’s gold, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHe paves his road to Immortality. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe high gods look on man and watch
\nand choose <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nToday’s impossibles for the
\nfuture’s base. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHis transience trembles with the
\nEtemal’s touch, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHis barriers cede beneath the
\nInfinite’s tread; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe Immortals have their entries in
\nhis life: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe Ambassadors of the Unseen draw
\nnear; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA Splendour sullied by the mortal
\nair, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nLove passes through his heart, a
\nwandering guest, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nBeauty surrounds him for a magic
\nhour, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHe has visits of a large revealing
\njoy, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nBrief widenesses release him from
\nhimself, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nEnticing towards a glory ever in
\nfront <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHopes of a deathless sweetness lure
\nand leave. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHis mind is crossed by strange
\ndiscovering fires, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nRare intimations lift his stumbling
\nspeech <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nTo a moment’s kinship with the
\neternal Word; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA masque of wisdom circles through
\nhis brain <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nPerturbing him with glimpses
\nhalf-divine. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHe lays his hands sometimes on the
\nUnknown; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHe communes sometimes with
\nEternity, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA strange and grandiose symbol was
\nhis birth <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd immortality and spirit-room <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd pure perfection and a
\nshadowless bliss<\/font><\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Page  308<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nAre this afflicted creature’s
\nmighty fate. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIn him the Earth-Mother sees draw
\nnear the change <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nForeshadowed in her dumb and fiery
\ndepths, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA godhead drawn from her transmuted
\nlimbs, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAn alchemy of Heaven on Nature’s
\nbase. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAdept of the self-born unfailing
\nline, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nLeave not the light to die the ages
\nbore, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHelp still humanity’s blind and
\nsuffering life: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nObey thy spirit’s wide omnipotent
\nurge.<\/p>\n

\nA witness to God’s parley with the Night<\/p>\n

\n

\nIt leaned compassionate from immortal calm<\/p>\n

\n

\nAnd housed desire, the troubled seed of things.<\/p>\n

\n

\nAssent to thy high self, create, endure.<\/p>\n

\n

\nCease not from knowledge, let thy toil be vast,<\/p>\n

\n

\nNo more in earthly limits pen thy force,<\/p>\n

\n

\nEqual thy work with long unending Time’s.<\/p>\n

\n

\nTraveller upon the bare eternal heights,<\/p>\n

\n

\nTread still the difficult and dateless path<\/p>\n

\n

\nJoining the cycles with its austere curve<\/p>\n

\n

\nMeasured for man by the initiate Gods.<\/p>\n

\n

\nMy light shall be in thee, my strength thy force.<\/p>\n

\n

\nLet not the impatient Titan drive thy heart,<\/p>\n

\n

\nAsk not the imperfect fruit, the partial prize.<\/p>\n

\n

\nOnly one boon, to greaten thy spirit, demand; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nOnly one joy, to raise thy kind,
\ndesire.<\/p>\n

\nAbove blind fate and the antagonist powers<\/p>\n

\n

\nMoveless there stands a high unchanging Will; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nTo its omnipotence leave thy work’s
\nresult.<\/p>\n

\nAll things shall change in God’s transfiguring hour." <\/p>\n

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

\n

\n     August and
\nsweet sank hushed that mighty Voice.<\/font><\/p>\n


\nNothing now moved in the vast brooding space: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n


\nA stillness came upon the listening world, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n


\nA mute immensity of the Eternal’s peace. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n


\nBut Aswapathy’s heart replied to her, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n


\nA cry amid the silence of the Vasts: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHow shall I rest content with mortal days <\/font>\n<\/p>\n


\nAnd the dull measure of terrestrial things, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n


\nI who have seen behind the cosmic mask <\/font>\n<\/p>\n


\nThe glory and the beauty of thy face? <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Page  309<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nHard is the doom to which thou
\nbindst thy sons!<\/p>\n

\nHow long shall our spirits battle with the Night<\/p>\n

\n

\nAnd bear defeat and the brute yoke of Death,<\/p>\n

\n

\nWe who are vessels of a deathless Force<\/p>\n

\n

\nAnd builders of the godhead of the race?<\/p>\n

\n

\nOr if it is thy work I do below<\/p>\n

\n

\nAmid the error and waste of human life<\/p>\n

\n

\nIn the vague light of man’s half-conscious mind,<\/p>\n

\n

\nWhy breaks not in some distant gleam of thee?<\/p>\n

\n

\nEver the centuries and millenniums pass.<\/p>\n

\n

\nWhere in the greyness is thy coming’s ray?<\/p>\n

\n

\nWhere is the thunder of thy victory’s wings?<\/p>\n

\n

\nOnly we hear the feet of passing gods.<\/p>\n

\n

\nA plan in the occult eternal Mind<\/p>\n

\n

\nMapped out to backward and prophetic sight,<\/p>\n

\n

\nThe aeons ever repeat their changeless round,<\/p>\n

\n

\nThe cycles all rebuild and ever aspire.<\/p>\n

\n

\nAll we have done is ever still to do.<\/p>\n

\n

\nAll breaks and all renews and is the same.<\/p>\n

\n

\nHuge revolutions of life’s fruitless gyre,<\/p>\n

\n

\nThe new-born ages perish like the old,<\/p>\n

\n

\nAs if the sad Enigma kept its right<\/p>\n

\n

\nTill all is done for which this scene was made.<\/p>\n

\n

\nToo little the strength that now with us is born,<\/p>\n

\n

\nToo faint the light that steals through Nature’s lids,<\/p>\n

\n

\nToo scant the joy with which she buys our pain.<\/p>\n

\n

\nIn a brute world that knows not its own sense,<\/p>\n

\n

\nThought-racked upon the wheel of birth we live,<\/p>\n

\n

\nThe instruments of an impulse not our own<\/p>\n

\n

\nMoved to achieve with our heart’s blood for price<\/p>\n

\n

\nHalf-knowledge, half-creations that soon tire.<\/p>\n

\n

\nA foiled immortal soul in perishing limbs,<\/p>\n

\n

\nBaffled and beaten back we labour still; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nAnnulled, frustrated, spent, we
\nstill survive.<\/p>\n

\nIn anguish we labour that from us may rise<\/p>\n

\n

\nA larger-seeing man with nobler heart,<\/p>\n

\n

\nA golden vessel of the incarnate Truth,<\/p>\n

\n

\nThe executor of the divine attempt<\/p>\n

\n

\nEquipped to wear the earthly body of God,<\/p>\n

\n

\nCommunicant and prophet and lover and king. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n


\n <\/font>Page  310<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nI know that thy creation cannot
\nfail. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nFor even through the mists of
\nmortal thought <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nInfallible are thy mysterious
\nsteps, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd, though Necessity dons the garb
\nof Chance, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHidden in the blind shifts of Fate
\nshe keeps <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe slow calm logic of Infinity’s
\npace <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd the inviolate sequence of its
\nwill. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAll life is fixed in an ascending
\nscale <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd adamantine is the evolving Law; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIn the beginning is prepared the
\nclose.<\/p>\n

\nThis strange irrational product of the mire,<\/p>\n

\n

\nThis compromise between the beast and God,<\/p>\n

\n

\nIs not the crown of thy miraculous world.<\/p>\n

\n

\nI know there shall inform the inconscient cells,<\/p>\n

\n

\nAt one with Nature and at height with heaven,<\/p>\n

\n

\nA spirit vast as the containing sky<\/p>\n

\n

\nAnd swept with ecstasy from invisible founts,<\/p>\n

\n

\nA god come down and greater by the fall.<\/p>\n

\n

\nA power arose out of my slumber’s cell.<\/p>\n

\n

\nAbandoning the tardy limp of the hours<\/p>\n

\n

\nAnd the inconstant blink of mortal sight,<\/p>\n

\n

\nThere where the Thinker sleeps in too much light<\/p>\n

\n

\nAnd intolerant flames the lone all-witnessing Eye<\/p>\n

\n

\nHearing the word of Fate from Silence’ heart<\/p>\n

\n

\nIn the endless moment of Eternity,<\/p>\n

\n

\nIt saw from timelessness the works of Time.<\/p>\n

\n

\nOverpassed were the leaden formulas of the Mind,<\/p>\n

\n

\nOverpowered the obstacle of mortal Space: <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nThe unfolding Image showed the
\nthings to come.<\/p>\n

\nA giant dance of Shiva tore the past,<\/p>\n

\n

\nThere was a thunder as of worlds that fall; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nEarth was o’errun with fire and the
\nroar of Death<\/p>\n

\nClamouring to slay a world his hunger had made; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nThere was a clangour of
\nDestruction’s wings: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe Titan’s battle-cry was in my
\nears,<\/p>\n

\nAlarm and rumour shook the armoured Night.<\/p>\n

\n

\nI saw the Omnipotent’s flaming pioneers<\/p>\n

\n

\nOver the heavenly verge which turns towards life<\/p>\n

\n

\nCome crowding down the amber stairs of birth; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nForerunners of a divine multitude <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n<\/p>\n

Page  311<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nOut of the paths of the morning
\nstar they came<\/p>\n

\nInto the little room of mortal life.<\/p>\n

\n

\nI saw them cross the twilight of an age,<\/p>\n

\n

\nThe sun-eyed children of a marvellous dawn,<\/p>\n

\n

\nThe great creators with wide brows of calm,<\/p>\n

\n

\nThe massive barrier-breakers of the world<\/p>\n

\n

\nAnd wrestlers with destiny in her lists of will,<\/p>\n

\n

\nThe labourers in the quarries of the gods,<\/p>\n

\n

\nThe messengers of the Incommunicable,<\/p>\n

\n

\nThe architects of immortality.<\/p>\n

\n

\nInto the fallen human sphere they came,<\/p>\n

\n

\nFaces that wore the Immortal’s glory still,<\/p>\n

\n

\nVoices that communed still with the thoughts of God,<\/p>\n

\n

\nBodies made beautiful by the Spirit’s light,<\/p>\n

\n

\nCarrying the magic word, the mystic fire,<\/p>\n

\n

\nCarrying the Dionysian cup of joy,<\/p>\n

\n

\nApproaching eyes of a diviner man,<\/p>\n

\n

\nLips chanting an unknown anthem of the soul,<\/p>\n

\n

\nFeet echoing in the corridors of Time.<\/p>\n

\n

\nHigh priests of wisdom, sweetness, might and bliss,<\/p>\n

\n

\nDiscoverers of beauty’s sunlit ways<\/p>\n

\n

\nAnd swimmers of Love’s laughing fiery floods<\/p>\n

\n

\nAnd dancers within rapture’s golden doors,<\/p>\n

\n

\nTheir tread one day shall change the suffering earth<\/p>\n

\n

\nAnd justify the light on Nature’s face.<\/p>\n

\n

\nAlthough Fate lingers in the high Beyond<\/p>\n

\n

\nAnd the work seems vain on which our heart’s force was spent,<\/p>\n

\n

\nAll shall be done for which our pain was borne.<\/p>\n

\n

\nEven as of old man came behind the beast<\/p>\n

\n

\nThis high divine successor surely shall come<\/p>\n

\n

\nBehind man’s inefficient mortal pace, 1<\/p>\n

\n

\nBehind his vain labour, sweat and blood and tears: <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nHe shall know what mortal mind
\nbarely durst think,<\/p>\n

\nHe shall do what the heart of the mortal could not dare.<\/p>\n

\n

\nInheritor of the toil of human time<\/p>\n

\n

\nHe shall take on him the burden of the gods; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nAll heavenly light shall visit the
\nearth’s thoughts,<\/p>\n

\nThe might of heaven shall fortify earthly hearts; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nEarth’s deeds shall touch the
\nsuperhuman’s height,<\/p>\n

\nEarth’s seeing widened into the infinite. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n<\/p>\n

Page   312<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nHeavy unchanged weighs still the
\nimperfect world; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe splendid youth of Time has
\npassed and failed,<\/p>\n

\nHeavy, and long are the years our labour counts<\/p>\n

\n

\nAnd still the seals are firm upon man’s soul<\/p>\n

\n

\nAnd weary is the ancient Mother’s heart.<\/p>\n

\n

\n0 Truth defended in thy secret sun,<\/p>\n

\n

\nVoice of her mighty musings in shut heavens<\/p>\n

\n

\nOn things withdrawn within her luminous depths,<\/p>\n

\n

\n0 Wisdom-Splendour, Mother of the universe,<\/p>\n

\n

\nCreatrix, the Etemal’s artist Bride,<\/p>\n

\n

\nLinger not long with thy transmuting hand<\/p>\n

\n

\nPressed vainly on one golden bar of Time,<\/p>\n

\n

\nAs if Time dare not open its heart to God.<\/p>\n

\n

\n0 radiant fountain of the world’s delight<\/p>\n

\n

\nWorld-free and unattainable above,<\/p>\n

\n

\n0 Bliss who ever dwellst deep hid within<\/p>\n

\n

\nWhile men seek thee outside and never find,<\/p>\n

\n

\nMystery and Muse with hieratic tongue,<\/p>\n

\n

\nIncarnate the white passion of thy force,<\/p>\n

\n

\nMission to earth some living form of thee.<\/p>\n

\n

\nOne moment fill with thy eternity,<\/p>\n

\n

\nLet thy infinity in one body live,<\/p>\n

\n

\nAll-Knowledge wrap one mind in seas of light,<\/p>\n

\n

\nAll-Love throb single in one human heart.<\/p>\n

\n

\nImmortal, treading the earth with mortal feet<\/p>\n

\n

\nAll heaven’s beauty crowd in earthly limbs!<\/p>\n

\n

\nOmnipotence, girdle with the power of God<\/p>\n

\n

\nMovements and moments of a mortal will,<\/p>\n

\n

\nPack with the eternal might one human hour<\/p>\n

\n

\nAnd with one gesture change all future time.<\/p>\n

\n

\nLet a great word be spoken from the heights<\/p>\n

\n

\nAnd one great act unlock the doors of Fate." <\/p>\n

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

\n

\n     His prayer
\nsank down in the resisting Night<\/p>\n

\nOppressed by the thousand forces that deny,<\/p>\n

\n

\nAs if too weak to climb to the Supreme.<\/p>\n

\n

\nBut there arose a wide consenting Voice; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nThe spirit of beauty was revealed
\nin sound: <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nLight floated round the marvellous
\nVision’s brow<\/p>\n

\nAnd on her lips the Immortal’s joy took shape. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n<\/p>\n

Page  313<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n‘0 strong forerunner, I have heard
\nthy cry.<\/p>\n

\nOne shall descend and break the iron Law,<\/p>\n

\n

\nChange Nature’s doom by the lone Spirit’s power.<\/p>\n

\n

\nA limitless Mind that can contain the world,<\/p>\n

\n

\nA sweet and violent heart of ardent calms<\/p>\n

\n

\nMoved by the passions of the gods shall come.<\/p>\n

\n

\nAll mights and greatnesses shall join in her; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nBeauty shall walk celestial on the
\nearth,<\/p>\n

\nDelight shall sleep in the cloud-net of her hair<\/p>\n

\n

\nAnd in her body as on his homing tree<\/p>\n

\n

\nImmortal Love shall beat his glorious wings.<\/p>\n

\n

\nA music of griefless things shall weave her charm; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nThe harps of the Perfect
\nshall_attune her voice,<\/p>\n

\nThe streams of Heaven shall murmur in her laugh,<\/p>\n

\n

\nHer lips shall be the honeycombs of God,<\/p>\n

\n

\nHer limbs his golden jars of ecstasy,<\/p>\n

\n

\nHer breasts the rapture-flowers of Paradise.<\/p>\n

\n

\nShe shall bear Wisdom in her voiceless bosom,<\/p>\n

\n

\nStrength shall be with her like a conqueror’s sword<\/p>\n

\n

\nAnd from her eyes the Eternal’s bliss shall gaze.<\/p>\n

\n

\nA seed shall be sown in Death’s tremendous hour,<\/p>\n

\n

\nA branch of heaven transplant to human soil; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nNature shall overleap her mortal
\nstep; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nFate shall be changed by an
\nunchanging will. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n     As a flame
\ndisappears m endless Light <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nImmortally extinguished in its
\nsource, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nVanished the splendour and was
\nstilled the word. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAn echo of delight that once was
\nclose, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe harmony journeyed towards some
\ndistant hush, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA music failing in the ear of
\ntrance, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA cadence called by distant
\ncadences, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA voice that trembled into strains
\nwithdrawn. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHer form retreated from the longing
\nearth <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nForsaking nearness to the abandoned
\nsense, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAscending to her unattainable home. <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nLone, brilliant, vacant lay the
\ninner fields; <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAll was unfilled inordinate spirit
\nspace,<\/p>\n

\nIndifferent, waste, a desert of bright peace.<\/p>\n

\n

\nThen a line moved on the far edge of calm: <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n<\/p>\n

Page   314<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nThe warm-lipped sentient soft
\nterrestrial wave,<\/p>\n

\nA quick and many-murmured moan and laugh, .<\/p>\n

\n

\nCame gliding in upon white feet of sound.<\/p>\n

\n

\nUnlocked was the deep glory of Silence’ heart; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nThe absolute unmoving stillnesses<\/p>\n

\nSurrendered to the breath of mortal air,<\/p>\n

\n

\nDissolving boundlessly the heavens of trance<\/p>\n

\n

\nCollapsed to waking mind. Eternity<\/p>\n

\n

\nCast down its incommunicable lids<\/p>\n

\n

\nOver its solitudes remote from ken<\/p>\n

\n

\nBehind the voiceless mystery of sleep.<\/p>\n

\n

\nThe grandiose respite failed; the wide release.<\/p>\n

\n

\nAcross the light of fast-receding planes<\/p>\n

\n

\nThat fled from him as from a falling star<\/p>\n

\n

\nCompelled to fill his human house in Time<\/p>\n

\n

\nHis soul drew back into the speed and noise<\/p>\n

\n

\nOf the vast business of created things.<\/p>\n

\n

\nA chariot of the marvels of the heavens<\/p>\n

\n

\nBroad-based to bear the gods on fiery wheels,<\/p>\n

\n

\nFlaming he swept through the spiritual gates.<\/p>\n

\n

\nThe mortal stir received him in its midst.<\/p>\n

\n

\nOnce more he moved amid material scenes,<\/p>\n

\n

\nLifted by intimations from the heights<\/p>\n

\n

\nAnd twixt the pauses of the building brain<\/p>\n

\n

\nTouched by the thoughts that skim the fathomless surge<\/p>\n

\n

\nOf Nature and wing back to hidden shores.<\/p>\n

\n

\nThe eternal seeker in the aeonic field<\/p>\n

\n

\nBesieged by the intolerant press of hours<\/p>\n

\n

\nAgain was strong for great swift-footed deeds.<\/p>\n

\n

\nAwake beneath the ignorant vault of Night,<\/p>\n

\n

\nHe saw the unnumbered people of the stars<\/p>\n

\n

\nAnd heard the questioning of the unsatisfied flood<\/p>\n

\n

\nAnd toiled with the form-maker, measuring Mind.<\/p>\n

\n

\nA wanderer from the occult invisible suns<\/p>\n

\n

\nAccomplishing the fate of transient tilings,<\/p>\n

\n

\nA god in the figure of the arisen beast,<\/p>\n

\n

\nHe raised his brow of conquest to the heavens<\/p>\n

\n

\nEstablishing the empire of the soul <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nOn Matter and its bounded universe <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAs on a solid rock in infinite
\nseas,<\/font><\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Page   315<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nThe Lord of Life resumed his mighty
\nrounds<\/p>\n

\nIn the scant field of the ambiguous globe. <\/p>\n

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

\n

\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tEND OF PART ONE<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n<\/p>\n

Page   316<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

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

\n<\/td>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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