{"id":3410,"date":"2013-07-13T01:48:14","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:48:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=3410"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:48:14","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:48:14","slug":"32-book-six-canto-one-vol-03-savitri-1954","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/02-other-editions\/01-savitri\/03-savitri-1954\/32-book-six-canto-one-vol-03-savitri-1954","title":{"rendered":"-32_Book_Six_Canto_One.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\n\n
 <\/td>\n\n

\nBOOK SIX<\/font><\/i><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe Book of Fate<\/font><\/i><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

<\/p>\n

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

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

THE WORD OF FATE<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

I<\/font>N<\/font><\/b><\/span> silent bounds bordering the mortal’s plane<\/span><\/p>\n

\nCrossing a wide expanse of brilliant peace<\/span><\/p>\n

\nNarad the heavenly sage from Paradise<\/span><\/p>\n

\nCame chanting through the large and lustrous air.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAttracted by the golden summer-earth<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThat lay beneath him like a glowing bowl<\/span><\/p>\n

\nTilted upon a table of the Gods,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nTurning as if moved round by an unseen hand<\/span><\/p>\n

\nTo catch the warmth and blaze of a small sun,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHe passed from the immortal’s happy paths<\/span><\/p>\n

\nTo a world of toil and quest and grief and hope,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nTo these rooms of a see-saw game of death and life.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAcross an intangible border of soul-space<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHe passed from Mind into material things<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAmid the inventions of the inconscient Self<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd the workings of a blind somnambulist Force.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nBelow him circling burned the myriad suns:<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

He bore the ripples of the etheric sea;<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

A primal Air brought the first joy of touch;<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

A secret Spirit drew its mighty breath.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nContracting and expanding this huge world<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe secret might of the creative fire<\/span><\/p>\n

\nDisplayed its triple power to build and form,<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

\n
\n<\/font>
\nPage \u2013 471<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

<\/p>\n

Its infinitesimal wave-sparks’ weaving dance,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Its nebulous units’ grounding shape and mass,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Magic foundation and pattern of a world,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Its radiance bursting into the light of stars,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

He felt a sap of life, a sap of death,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Into solid Matter’s dense communion<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Plunging and its obscure oneness of forms<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

He shared with a dumb Spirit identity.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

He beheld the cosmic Being at his task,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

His eyes measured the spaces, gauged the depths,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

His inner gaze the movements of the soul,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

He saw the eternal labour of the Gods,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

And looked upon the life of beasts and men.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

A change now fell upon the singer’s mood,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

A rapture and a pathos moved his voice;<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

He sang no more of light that never wanes,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

And oneness and pure everlasting bliss,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

He sang no more the deathless heart of love,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

His chant was a hymn of Ignorance and Fate.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

He sang the name of Vishnu and the birth<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

And joy and passion of the mystic world,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

And how the stars were made and life began<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

And the mute regions stirred with the throb
\nof a soul. j<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

He sang the Inconscient and its secret self,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Its power omnipotent knowing not what it does,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

All shaping without will or thought or sense,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Its blind unerring occult mystery,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

And darkness yearning towards the eternal Light,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

And Love that broods within the dim abyss<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

And waits the answer of the human heart,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

And death that climbs to immortality.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

He sang of the Truth that cries from Night’s blind deeps,<\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

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

\nPage \u2013 472<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

<\/p>\n

And the Mother Wisdom hid in Nature’s breast<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

And the Idea that through her dumbness works<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

And the miracle of her transforming hands,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Of life that slumbers in the stone and sun<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

And mind subliminal in mindless life,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

And the consciousness that wakes in beasts and men.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

He sang of the glory and marvel still to be born,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Of the Godhead throwing off at last its veil,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Of bodies made divine and life made bliss,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Immortal sweetness clasping immortal might,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Heart sensing heart, thought looking straight at thought,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

And the delight when every barrier falls,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

And the transfiguration and the ecstasy.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

And as he sang the demons wept with joy<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Foreseeing the end of their long dreadful task<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

And the defeat for which they hoped in vain,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

And glad release from their self-chosen doom<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

And return into the One from whom they came.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

He who has conquered the immortals’ seats,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Came down to men on earth the Man divine.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

As might a lightening streak, a glory fell<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Nearing until the rapt eyes of the sage<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Looked out from luminous cloud and, strangely limned,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

His face, a beautiful mask of antique joy,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Appearing in light descended where arose<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

King Aswapathy’s palace to the winds<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

In Madra, flowering up in delicate stone.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

There welcomed him the sage and thoughtful king,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

At his side a creature beautiful, passionate, wise,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Aspiring like a sacrificial flame<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Skyward from its earth-seat through luminous air,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Queen-browed, the human mother of Savitri.<\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

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

\nPage \u2013 473<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

There for an hour untouched by the earth’s siege<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThey ceased from common life and care and sat<\/span><\/p>\n

\nInclining to the high and rhythmic voice,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWhile in his measured chant the heavenly seer<\/span><\/p>\n

\nSpoke of the toils of men and what the gods<\/span><\/p>\n

\nStrive for on earth, and joy that throbs behind<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe marvel and the mystery of pain.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHe sang to them of the lotus-heart of love<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWith all its thousand luminous buds of truth,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWhich quivering sleeps veiled by apparent things.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nIt trembles at each touch, it strives to wake<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd one day it shall hear a blissful voice<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd in the garden of the Spouse shall bloom<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWhen she is seized by her discovered lord.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nA mighty shuddering coil of ecstasy<\/span><\/p>\n

\nCrept through the deep heart of the universe.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOut of her Matter’s stupor, her mind’s dreams,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nShe woke, she looked upon God’s unveiled face.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nEven as he sang and rapture stole through earth-time<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd caught the heavens, came with a call of hooves,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAs of her swift heart hastening, Savitri;<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Her radiant tread glimmered across the floor.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nA happy wonder in her fathomless gaze,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nChanged by the halo of her love she came;<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Her eyes rich with a shining mist of joy<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAs one who comes from a heavenly embassy<\/span><\/p>\n

\nDischarging the proud mission of her heart,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOne carrying the sanction of the gods<\/span><\/p>\n

\nTo her love and its luminous eternity<\/span><\/p>\n

\nShe stood before her mighty father’s throne<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd, eager for beauty on discovered earth<\/span><\/p>\n

\nTransformed and new in her heart’s miracle-light,<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

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

\nPage \u2013 474<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

Saw like a rose of marvel, worshipping,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe fiery sweetness of the son of Heaven.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHe flung on her his vast immortal look;<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

His inner gaze surrounded her with its light<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

And reining back knowledge from his immortal lips<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

He cried to her, "Who is this that comes, the bride,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

The flame-born, and round her illumined head<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Pouring their lights her hymeneal pomps<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Move flashing about her? From what green glimmer of glades<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Retreating into dewy silences<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Or half-seen verge of waters moon-betrayed<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Bringst thou this glory of enchanted eyes ?<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Earth has gold-hued expanses, shadowy hills<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

That cowl their dreaming phantom heads in night,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

And guarded in a cloistral joy of woods,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Screened banks sink down into felicity<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Seized by the curved incessant yearning hands<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

And ripple-passion of the up-gazing stream:<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Amid cool-lipped murmurs of its pure embrace<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

They lose their souls on beds of trembling reeds.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

And all these are mysterious presences<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

In which some spirit’s immortal bliss is felt,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

And they betray the earth-born heart to joy.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

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There hast thou paused, and marvelling borne eyes<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Unknown, or heard a voice that forced thy life<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

To strain its rapture through thy listening soul?<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Or, if my thought could trust this shimmering gaze,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

It would say: thou hast not drunk from an earthly cup,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

But stepping through azure curtains of the morn<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Thou wast surrounded on a magic verge<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

In brighter countries than man’s eyes can bear.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Assailed by trooping voices of delight<\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/font>
\nPage \u2013 475<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

And seized mid a sunlit glamour of the boughs<\/span><\/p>\n

\nIn faery woods, led down the gleaming slopes<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOf Gundhamadan where the Apsaras roam,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThy limbs have shared the sports which none has seen,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd in god-haunts thy human footsteps strayed,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThy mortal bosom quivered with god-speech<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd thy soul answered to a Word unknown.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWhat feet of gods, what ravishing flutes of heaven<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHave thrilled high melodies round, from near and far<\/span><\/p>\n

\nApproaching through the soft and revelling air,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWhich still surprised thou hearest? They have fed<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThy silence on some red strange-ecstasied fruit<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd thou hast trod the dim moon-peaks of bliss. .<\/span><\/p>\n

\nReveal, O winged with light, whence thou hast flown<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHastening bright-hued through the green-tangled earth,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThy body rhythmical with the spring-bird’s call.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe empty roses of thy hands are filled<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOnly with their own beauty and the thrill<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOf a remembered clasp, and in thee glows<\/span><\/p>\n

\nA heavenly jar, thy firm deep-honied heart,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nNew-brimming with a sweet and nectarous wine.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThou hast not spoken with the kings of pain.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nLife’s perilous music rings yet to thy ear<\/span><\/p>\n

\nFar-melodied, rapid, grand, a Centaur’s song,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOr soft as water plashing mid the hills,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOr mighty as a great chant of many winds.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nMoon-bright thou livest in thy inner bliss.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThou comest like a silver deer through groves<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOf coral flowers and buds of glowing dreams,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOr fleest like a wind-goddess through leaves,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOr roamest, O ruby-eyed and snow-winged dove,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nFlitting through thickets of thy pure desires<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

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

\nPage \u2013 476<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

<\/p>\n

In the unwounded beauty of thy soul.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

These things are only images to thy earth,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

But truest truth of that which in thee sleeps.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

For such is thy spirit, a sister of the gods,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Thy earthly body lovely to the eyes,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

And thou art kin in joy to heaven’s sons.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

O thou who hast come to this great perilous world<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Now only seen through the splendour of thy dreams,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Where hardly love and beauty can live safe,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Thyself a being dangerously great,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

A soul alone in a golden house of thought<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Has lived walled in by the safety of thy dreams.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

On heights of happiness leaving doom asleep<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Who hunts unseen the unconscious lives of men,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

If thy heart could live locked in the ideal’s gold,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

As high, as happy might thy waking be!<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

If for all time doom could be left to sleep!"<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

He spoke but held his knowledge back from words.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAs a cloud plays with lightning’s vivid laugh,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nBut still holds back the thunder in its heart,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOnly he let bright images escape.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHis speech like glimmering music veiled his thoughts;<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Pitiful to mortals, only to them it spoke,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAs a wind flatters the bright summer air,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOf living beauty and of present bliss:<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

He hid in his all-knowing mind the rest.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

To those who hearkened to his celestial voice,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

The veil heaven’s pity throws on future pain<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

The Immortals’ sanction seemed of endless joy.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

But Aswapathy answered to the seer,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

His listening mind had marked the dubious close,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

An ominous shadow felt behind the words,<\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/font>
\nPage \u2013 477<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

But calm like one who ever sits facing Fate<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHere mid the dangerous contours of earth’s life,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHe answered covert thought with guarded speech:<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

"O deathless sage who knowest all things here,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nIf I could read by the ray of my own wish<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThrough the carved shield of symbol images<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWhich thou hast thrown before thy heavenly mind<\/span><\/p>\n

\nI might see the steps of a young godlike life<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHappily beginning luminous-eyed on earth;<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

Between the Unknowable and the Unseen<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Born on the borders of two wonder-worlds,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

It flames out symbols of the Infinite<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

And lives in a great light of inner suns.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

For it has read and broken the hidden seals,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

It has drunk of the Immortal’s wells of joy,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

It has looked across the jewel bars of heaven,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

It has entered the aspiring Secrecy,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

It sees beyond terrestrial common things<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

And communes with the Powers that build the worlds,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n
\nTill through the shining gates and mystic streets<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Of the city of lapis lazuli and pearl<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n
\nProud deeds step forth a rank and march of gods.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Although in pauses of our human lives<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n
\nEarth keeps for man some short and perfect hours<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

When the inconscient tread of Time can seem<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

The eternal moment which the deathless live,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Yet rare that touch upon the mortal’s world:<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Hardly a soul and body here are born<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

In the fierce difficult movement of the stars,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Whose life can keep the paradisal note,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Its rhythm repeat the many-toned melody<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Tirelessly throbbing through the rapturous air<\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

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

\nPage \u2013 478<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

<\/p>\n

Caught in the song that sways the Apsara’s limbs<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

When she floats gleaming like a cloud of light,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

A wave of joy on heaven’s moon-stone floor.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Behold this image cast by light and love,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

A stanza of the ardour of the gods<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Perfectly rhymed, a pillared ripple of gold!<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Her body like a brimmed pitcher of delight<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Shaped in a splendour of gold-coloured bronze<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

As if to seize earth’s truth of hidden bliss.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Dream-made illumined mirrors are her eyes<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Draped subtly in a slumberous fringe of jet,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Retaining heaven’s reflections in their depths.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Even as her body, such is she within,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Heaven’s lustrous mornings gloriously recur,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Like drops of fire upon a silver page,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

In her young spirit yet untouched with tears.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

All beautiful things eternal seem and new<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

To virgin wonder in her crystal soul.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

The unchanging blue reveals its spacious thought,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Marvellous the moon floats on through wondering skies;<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Earth’s flowers spring up and laugh at time and death;<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

The charmed mutations of the enchanter life<\/span><\/p>\n

\nRace like bright children past the smiling hours.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nIf but this joy of life could last, nor pain<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThrow its bronze note into her rhythmed days!<\/span><\/p>\n

\nBehold her, singer with the prescient gaze,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd let thy blessing chant that this fair child<\/span><\/p>\n

\nShall pour the nectar of a sorrowless life<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAround her from her lucid heart of love,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHeal with her bliss the tired breast of earth<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd cast like a happy snare felicity.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAs grows the great and golden bounteous tree<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

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

\nPage \u2013 479<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

Flowering by Alacananda’s murmuring waves,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWhere with enamoured speed the waters run<\/span><\/p>\n

\nLisping and babbling to the splendour of morn<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd cling with lyric laughter round the knees<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOf heaven’s daughters dripping magic rain<\/span><\/p>\n

\nPearl-bright from moon-gold limbs and cloudy hair,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nSo are her dawns like jewelled leaves of light.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nSo casts she her felicity on men.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nA flame of radiant happiness she was born,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd surely will that flame set earth alight:<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Doom surely will see her pass and say no word,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nBut too often here the careless Mother leaves<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHer chosen in the envious hands of Fate:<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

The harp of God falls mute, its call to bliss<\/span><\/p>\n

\nDiscouraged fails mid earth’s unhappy sounds,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe strings of the siren Ecstasy cry not here<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOr soon are silenced in the human heart.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOf sorrow’s songs we have enough: bid once<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHer glad and griefless days ring heaven here.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOr must fire always test the great of soul?<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAlong the dreadful causeway of the gods<\/span><\/p>\n

\nArmoured with love and faith and sacred joy,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nA traveller to the Eternal’s house<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOnce let unwounded pass a mortal life."<\/span><\/p>\n

\nBut Narad answered not, silent he sat,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nKnowing that words are vain and Fate is lord.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHe looked into the unseen with seeing eyes,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThen, dallying with the mortal’s ignorance<\/span><\/p>\n

\nLike one who knows not, questioning, he cried:<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

"On what high mission went her hastening wheels?<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWhence came she with this glory in her heart<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd Paradise made visible in her eyes?<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

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

\nPage \u2013 480<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

<\/p>\n

What sudden God has met, what face supreme?"<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

To whom the king, "The red asoca watched<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Her going forth which now sees her return.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Arisen into an air of naming dawn<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Like a bright bird tired of her lonely branch<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

To find her own lord, since to her on earth<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

He came not yet, this sweetness wandered forth<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Cleaving her way with the beat of her rapid wings.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Led by a distant call her vague swift flight<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Threaded the summer morns and sunlit lands.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

The happy rest her burdened lashes keep<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

And these charmed guardian lips hold treasured still.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Virgin who comest perfected by joy,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Reveal the name thy sudden heart-beats learned.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Whom hast thou chosen kingliest among men 2"<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

And Savitri answered with her still calm voice<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

As one who speaks beneath the eyes of Fate:<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

"Father and king, I have carried out thy will,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOne whom I sought I found in distant lands;<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

I have obeyed my heart, I have heard its call.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOn the borders of a dreaming wilderness<\/span><\/p>\n

\nMid Shalwa’s giant hills and brooding woods,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nIn his thatched hermitage Dyumathsena dwells,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nBlind, exiled, outcast, once a mighty king.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe son of Dyumathsena, Satyavan<\/span><\/p>\n

\nI have met on the wild forest’s lonely verge.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nMy father, I have chosen. This is done."<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAstonished, all sat silent for a space.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThen Aswapathy looked within and saw<\/span><\/p>\n

\nA heavy shadow float above the name<\/span><\/p>\n

\nChased by a sudden and stupendous light,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHe looked into his daughter’s eyes and spoke;<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/font>
\nPage \u2013 481<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

"Well hast thou done and I approve thy choice.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nIf this is all, then all is surely well;<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

If there is more, then all can still be well.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWhether it seem good or evil to men’s eyes,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOnly for good the secret Will can work.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOur destiny is written in double terms:<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

Through Nature’s contraries we draw near God;<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Out of the darkness we still grow to light.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Death is our road to immortality.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n
\n‘Cry woe, cry woe’, the world’s lost voices wail,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Yet conquers the eternal Good at last."<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n
\nThen might the sage have spoken, but the king<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

In haste broke out and stayed the dangerous word:<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

"O singer of the ultimate ecstasy,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nLend not a dangerous vision to the blind,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nBecause by native right thou hast seen clear.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nImpose not on the mortal’s tremulous breast<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe dire ordeal that foreknowledge brings;<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

Demand not now the godhead in our acts.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Here are not happy peaks the heaven-nymphs roam,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Or Coilas or Vaicountha’s starry stair,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Abrupt jagged hills only the mighty climb<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Are here where few dare even think to rise;<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

Far voices call down from the dizzy rocks,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nChill, slippery, precipitous are the paths.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nToo hard the gods are with man’s fragile race,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nIn their large heavens they dwell exempt from Fate<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd they forget the wounded feet of man,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHis limbs that faint beneath the whips of grief,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHis heart that hears the tread of time and death,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe future’s road is hid from mortal sight:<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

He moves towards a veiled and secret face.<\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

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

\nPage \u2013 482<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

<\/p>\n

To light one step in front is all his hope<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

And only for a little strength he asks<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

To meet the riddle of his shrouded fate,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Awaited by a vague and half-seen force,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Aware of danger to his uncertain hours<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

He guards his nickering yearnings from her breath;<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

He feels not when the dreadful fingers close<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAround him with the grasp none can elude.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nIf thou canst loose her grip then only speak,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nPerhaps from the iron snare there is escape:<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Our mind perhaps deceives us with its words<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd gives the name of doom to our own choice;<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Perhaps the blindness of our will is Fate."<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHe said and Narad answered not the king.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nBut now the queen alarmed lifted her voice:<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

"O seer, thy bright arrival has been timed<\/span><\/p>\n

\nTo this high moment of a happy life.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThen let the speech benign of griefless spheres<\/span><\/p>\n

\nConfirm this blithe conjunction of two stars<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd sanction joy with thy celestial voice.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHere drag not in the peril of our thoughts,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nLet not our words create the doom they fear.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHere is no cause for dread, no chance for grief<\/span><\/p>\n

\nTo raise her ominous head and stare at love:<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

A single spirit in a multitude,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Happy is Satyavan mid earthly men<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Whom Savitri has chosen for her mate,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

And fortunate the forest hermitage<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Where leaving her palace and riches and a throne<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

My Savitri will dwell and bring in heaven.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Then let thy blessing put the immortals’ seal<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

On these bright lives’ unstained felicity<\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

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

\nPage \u2013 483<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

Pushing the ominous Shadow from their days.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nToo heavy falls a Shadow on man’s heart;<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

It dares not be too happy upon earth.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nIt dreads the blow dogging too vivid joys,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nA lash unseen in Fate’s extended hand,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe danger lurking in fortune’s proud extremes,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAn irony in life’s indulgent smile,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd trembles at the laughter of the gods.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOr if crouches unseen a panther doom,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nIf wings of Evil brood above that house,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThen also speak, that we may turn aside<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd rescue our lives from hazard of wayside doom<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd chance entanglement of an alien fate."<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd Narad slowly answered to the queen:<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

"What help is in prevision to the driven?<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Safe doors cry opening near, the doomed pass on.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

A future knowledge is an added pain,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

A torturing burden and a fruitless light<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

On the enormous scene that Fate has built.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

The eternal poet, universal Mind,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Has paged each line of his imperial act;<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

Invisible the giant actors tread<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd man lives like some secret player’s mask.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHe knows not even what his lips shall speak.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nFor a mysterious Power compels his steps<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd life is stronger than his trembling soul.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nNone can refuse what the stark Force demands,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHer eyes are fixed upon her mighty aim;<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

No cry or prayer can turn her from her path,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nShe has leaped an arrow from the bow of God."<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHis words were theirs who live unforced to grieve<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd help by calm the swaying wheels of life<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

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

\nPage \u2013 484<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

<\/p>\n

And the long restlessness of transient things<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

And the trouble and passion of the unquiet world.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

As though her own bosom were pierced the mother saw<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

The ancient human sentence strike her child,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Her sweetness that deserved another fate<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Only a larger measure given of tears.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Aspiring to the nature of the gods,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

A mind proof-armoured mailed in mighty thoughts,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

A will entire couchant behind wisdom’s shield,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Though to still heavens of knowledge she had risen,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Though calm and wise and Aswapathy’s queen,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Human was she still and opened her doors to grief;<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

The stony-eyed injustice she accused<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOf the marble godhead of inflexible Law;<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Nor sought the strength extreme adversity brings<\/span><\/p>\n

\nTo lives that stand erect and front the World-Power:<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

Her heart appealed against the impartial judge,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Taxed with perversity the impersonal One.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Her tranquil spirit she called not to her aid,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

But as a common man beneath his load<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Grows faint and breathes his pain in ignorant words,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

So now she arraigned the World’s impassive will:<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

"What stealthy doom has crept across her path<\/span><\/p>\n

\nEmerging from the dark forest’s sullen heart,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWhat evil thing stood smiling by the way<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd wore the beauty of the Shalwa boy?<\/span><\/p>\n

\nPerhaps he came an enemy from her past<\/span><\/p>\n

\nArmed with a hidden force of ancient wrongs,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHimself unknowing, and seized her unknown.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHere dreadfully entangled love and hate<\/span><\/p>\n

\nMeet us blind wanderers mid the perils of Time.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOur days are links of a disastrous chain,<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/font>
\nPage \u2013 485<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

<\/p>\n

Necessity avenges casual steps;<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

Old cruelties come back unrecognised,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe gods make use of our forgotten deeds. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\nYet all in vain the bitter law was made. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\nOur own minds are the justicers of doom. f<\/span><\/p>\n

\nFor nothing have we learned, but still repeat <\/span> <\/p>\n

\nOur stark misuse of self and others’ selves,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd fallen from his ethereal element<\/span><\/p>\n

\nLove darkens to the spirit of nether gods.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe dreadful angel, angry with his joys<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWoundingly sweet he cannot yet forego, t<\/span><\/p>\n

\nIs pitiless to the soul his gaze disarmed, j<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHe visits with his own pangs his quivering prey<\/span><\/p>\n

\nForcing us to cling enamoured to his grip<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAs if in love with our own agony.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThis is one poignant misery in the world,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd grief has other lassoes for our life.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOur sympathies become our torturers.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nStrength have I my own punishment to bear,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nKnowing it just, but on this earth perplexed,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nSmitten in the sorrow of scourged and helpless things,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOften it faints to meet other suffering eyes.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWe are not as the gods who know not grief<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd look impassive on a suffering world,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nCalm they gaze down on the little human scene<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd the short-lived passion crossing mortal hearts.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAn ancient tale of woe can move us still,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWe keep the ache of breasts that breathe no more,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWe are shaken by the sight of human pain,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd share the miseries that others feel.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOurs not the passionless lids that cannot age.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nToo hard for us is heaven’s indifference:<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

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

\nPage \u2013 486<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

Our own tragedies are not enough for us,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAll pathos and all sufferings we make ours;<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

We have sorrow for a greatness passed away<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd feel the touch of tears in mortal things.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nEven a stranger’s anguish rends my heart,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd this, O Narad, is my well-loved child.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHide not from us our doom, if doom is ours.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThis is the worst, an unknown face of Fate,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nA terror ominous mute felt more than seen<\/span><\/p>\n

\nBehind our seat by day, our couch by night,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nA Fate lurking in the shadow of our hearts,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe anguish of the unseen that waits to strike.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nTo know is best, however hard to bear."<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThen cried the sage piercing the mother’s heart,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nForcing to steel the will of Savitri<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHis words set free the spring of cosmic Fate.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe great Gods use the pain of human hearts<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAs a sharp axe to hew their cosmic road:<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

They squander lavishly men’s blood and tears<\/span><\/p>\n

\nFor a moment’s purpose in their fateful work.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThis cosmic Nature’s balance is not ours<\/span><\/p>\n

\nNor the mystic measure of her need and use.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nA single word lets loose vast agencies,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nA casual act determines the world’s fate.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nSo now he set free destiny in that hour:<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

"The truth thou hast claimed; I give to thee the truth.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

A marvel of the meeting earth and heavens<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Is he whom Savitri has chosen mid men,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

His figure is the front of Nature’s march,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

His single being excels the works of Time.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

A sapphire cutting from the sleep of heaven,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Delightful is the soul of Satyavan,<\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

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

\nPage \u2013 487<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

A ray out of the rapturous infinite,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nA silence waking to a hymn of joy.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nA divinity and kingliness gird his brow;<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

His eyes keep a memory from a world of bliss.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

As brilliant as a lonely moon in heaven,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Gentle like the sweet bud that spring desires,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Pure like a stream that kisses silent banks,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

He takes with bright surprise spirit and sense.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

A living knot of golden Paradise,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

A blue Immense he leans to the longing world,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Time’s joy borrowed out of eternity,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

A star of splendour or a rose of bliss.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

In him Soul and Nature, equal Presences,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Balance and fuse in a wide harmony.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n
\nThe Happy in their bright ether have not hearts<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

More sweet and true than this of mortal make<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

That takes all joy as the world’s native gift<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

And to all gives joy as the world’s natural right.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

His speech carries a light of inner truth,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

And a large-eyed communion with the Power<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

In common things has made veilless his mind,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

A seer in earth-shapes of garbless deity.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

A tranquil breadth of sky windless and still<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Watching the world like a mind of unplumbed thought,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

A silent space musing and luminous<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Uncovered by the morning to delight,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

A green tangle of trees upon a happy hill<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n
\nMade into a murmuring nest by southern winds,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

These are his images and parallels,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

His kin in beauty and in depth his peers.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

A will to climb lifts a delight to live,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n
\nHeaven’s height companion of earth-beauty’s charm,<\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

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

\nPage \u2013 488<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

<\/p>\n

An aspiration to the immortals’ air<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Lain on the lap of mortal ecstasy.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

His sweetness and his joy attract all hearts<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

To live with his own in a glad tenancy,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

His strength is like a tower built to reach heaven,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

A godhead quarried from the stones of life.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

O loss, if death into its elements<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Of which his gracious envelope was built<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Shatter this vase before it breathes its sweets,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

As if earth could not keep too long from heaven<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

A treasure thus unique loaned by the gods,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

A being so rare, of so divine a make!<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

In one brief year when this bright hour flies back<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

And perches careless on a branch of Time,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

This sovereign glory ends heaven lent to earth,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

This splendour vanishes from the mortal’s sky:<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

Heaven’s greatness came, but was too great to stay.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nTwelve swift-winged months are given to him and her;<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

This day returning Satyavan must die."<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

A lightning bright and nude the sentence fell.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

But the queen cried: "Vain then can be Heaven’s grace!<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Heaven mocks us with the brilliance of its gifts,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

For Death is a cupbearer of the wine<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Of too brief joy held up to. mortal lips<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

For a passionate moment by the careless gods.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

But I reject the grace and the mockery.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Mounting thy car go forth, 0 Savitri,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

And travel once more through the peopled lands.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Alas, in the green gladness of the woods<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Thy heart has stooped to a misleading call.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Choose once again and leave this fated head,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Death is the gardener of this wonder-tree;<\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/font>
\nPage \u2013 489<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

<\/p>\n

Love’s sweetness sleeps in his pale marble hand. ;<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

Advancing in a honeyed line but closed,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nA little joy would buy too bitter an end. j<\/span><\/p>\n

\nPlead not thy choice, for death has made it vain. ‘<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThy youth and radiance were not born to lie s<\/span><\/p>\n

\nA casket void dropped on a careless soil;<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

A choice less rare may call a happier fate."<\/span><\/p>\n

\nBut Savitri answered from her violent heart,\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHer voice was calm, her face was fixed like steel:<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

"Once my heart chose and chooses not again.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

The word I have spoken can never be erased,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

It is written in the record book of God.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

The truth once uttered, from the earth’s air effaced,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

By mind forgotten, sounds immortally<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

For ever in the memory of Time.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Once the dice fall thrown by the hand of Fate<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

In an eternal moment of the gods.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

My heart has sealed its troth to Satyavan:<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Its signature adverse Fate cannot efface,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Its seal not Fate nor Death nor Time dissolve.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Those who shall part who have grown one being within?<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Death’s grip can break our bodies, not our souls,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

If death take him, I too know how to die.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Let Fate do with me what she will or can;<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

I am stronger than death and greater than my fate;<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

My love shall outlast the world, doom falls from me<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHelpless against my immortality.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nFate’s law may change, but not my spirit’s will."<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAn adamant will, she cast her speech like bronze,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nBut in the queen’s mind listening her words<\/span><\/p>\n

\nRang like the voice of a self-chosen Doom<\/span><\/p>\n

\nDenying every issue of escape.<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/font>
\nPage \u2013 490<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

<\/p>\n

To her own despair answer the mother made;<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

As one she cried who in her heavy heart<\/span><\/p>\n

\nLabours amid the sobbing of her hopes<\/span><\/p>\n

\nTo wake a note of help from sadder strings;<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

"O child, in the magnificence of thy soul<\/span><\/p>\n

\nDwelling on the border of a greater world,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd, dazzled by thy superhuman thoughts,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThou lendst eternity to a mortal hope.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHere on this mutable and ignorant earth,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWho is the lover and who is the friend?<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAll passes here, nothing remains the same.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nNone is for any on this transient globe.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHe whom thou lovest now, a stranger came<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd into a far strangeness shall depart.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHis moment’s part once done upon life’s stage<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWhich for a time was given him from within,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nTo other scenes he moves and other players<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd laughs and weeps mid faces new, unknown.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe body thou hast loved is cast away<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAmidst the brute unchanging stuff of worlds<\/span><\/p>\n

\nTo indifferent mighty Nature and becomes<\/span><\/p>\n

\nCrude matter for the joy of others’ lives.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nBut for our souls, upon the wheel of God<\/span><\/p>\n

\nFor ever turning, they arrive and go,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nMarried and sundered in the magic round<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOf the great Dancer of the boundless dance.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOur emotions are but high and dying notes<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOf his wild music changed compellingly<\/span><\/p>\n

\nBy the passionate movements of a seeking Heart<\/span><\/p>\n

\nIn the incessant links of hour with hour.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nTo call down heaven’s distant answering song,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nTo cry to an unseized bliss is all we dare;<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/font>
\nPage \u2013 491<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nOnce seized, we lose the heavenly music’s sense;<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Too near, the rhythmic cry has fled or failed;<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

All sweetnesses are baffling symbols here,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nLove dies before the lover in our breast:<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

Our joys are perfumes in a brittle vase.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

0 then what wreck is this upon Time’s sea<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

To spread life’s sails to the hurricane desire<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

And call for pilot the unseeing heart!<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nO child, wilt thou proclaim, wilt thou then follow<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Against the Law that is the eternal will<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

The autarchy of the rash titan’s mood<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

To whom his own fierce will is the one law<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

In a world where Truth is not, nor Light nor God?<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n
\nOnly the gods can speak what now thou speakst.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Thou who art human, think not like a god.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

For man, below the god, above the brute,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Is given the calm reason as his guide;<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

He is not driven by an unthinking will<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAs are the actions of the bird and beast;<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

He is not moved by stark Necessity<\/span><\/p>\n

\nLike the senseless motion of inconscient things.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe giant’s and the titan’s furious march<\/span><\/p>\n

\nClimbs to usurp the kingdom of the gods<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOr skirts the demon magnitudes of Hell;<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

In the unreflecting passion of their hearts<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThey dash their lives against the eternal Law<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd fall and break by their own violent mass:<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

The middle path is made for thinking man.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nTo choose his steps by reason’s vigilant light,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nTo choose his path among the many paths<\/span><\/p>\n

\nIs given him, for each his difficult goal<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHewn out of infinite possibility.<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

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

\n
\n<\/font>
\nPage \u2013 492<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

Leave not thy goal to follow a beautiful face.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOnly when thou hast climbed above thy mind<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd livst in the calm vastness of the One<\/span><\/p>\n

\nCan love be eternal in the eternal bliss<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd Love divine replace the human tie.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThere is a shrouded law, an austere force:<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

It bids thee strengthen thy undying spirit;<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

It offers its severe benignances<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Of work and thought and measured grave delight<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

As steps to climb to God’s far secret heights.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Then is our life a tranquil pilgrimage,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Each year a mile upon the heavenly Way,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Each dawn opens into a larger Light.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Thy acts are thy helpers, or events are signs,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Waking and sleep are opportunities<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Given to thee by an immortal Power:<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

So canst thou raise thy pure unvanquished spirit<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Till spread to heaven in a wide vesper calm,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Indifferent and gentle as the sky,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

It greatens slowly into timeless peace."<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

But Savitri replied with steadfast eyes:<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

"My will is part of the eternal will,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

My fate is what my spirit’s strength can make,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

My fate is what my spirit’s strength can bear;<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

My strength is not the titan’s, it is God’s.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nI have discovered my glad reality<\/span><\/p>\n

\nBeyond my body in another’s being:<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

I have found the deep unchanging soul of love.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Then how shall I desire a lonely good,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Or slay, aspiring to white vacant peace,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

The endless hope that made my soul spring forth<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Out of its infinite solitude and sleep?<\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

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

\nPage \u2013 493<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

<\/p>\n

My spirit has glimpsed the glory for which it came,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n
\nBeating of one vast heart in the flame of things,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

My eternity clasped by his eternity<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

And, tireless of the sweet abysms of Time,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Deep possibility always to love.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

This, this is first, last joy and to its throb<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

The riches of a thousand fortunate years<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Are a poverty. Nothing to me are death and grief<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Or ordinary lives and happy days.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

And what to me are common souls of men<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Or eyes and lips that are not Satyavan’s?<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

I have no need to draw back from his arms<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

And the discovered paradise of his love<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

And journey into a still infinity.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Only now for my soul in Satyavan<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

I treasure the rich occasion of my birth:<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

In sunlight and a dream of emerald ways<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

I shall walk with him like gods in Paradise.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

If for a year, that year is all my life<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

And yet I know this is not all my fate<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Only to live and love awhile and die.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n
\nFor I know now why my spirit came on earth<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

And who I am and who he is I love.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n
\nI have looked at him from my immortal Self,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

I have seen God smile at me in Satyavan;<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

I have seen the Eternal in a human face."<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThen none could answer to her words. Silent<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThey sat and looked into the eyes of Fate.<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 494<\/font><\/span><\/td>\n

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

  BOOK SIX The Book of Fate CANTO ONE   THE WORD OF FATE   IN silent bounds bordering the mortal’s plane Crossing a wide…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[78],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3410","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-03-savitri-1954","wpcat-78-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3410","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=3410"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3410\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}