{"id":3431,"date":"2013-07-13T01:48:24","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:48:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=3431"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:48:24","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:48:24","slug":"34-book-seven-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\/34-book-seven-canto-one-vol-03-savitri-1954","title":{"rendered":"-34_Book_Seven_Canto_One.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\n\n
 <\/td>\n\n

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

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

\n

\n

<\/p>\n

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

\n

 <\/p>\n

\nTHE JOY OF UNION; THE ORDEAL OF THE<\/font><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\nFOREKNOWLEDGE OF DEATH AND<\/font><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\nTHE HEART’S GRIEF<\/font><\/b><\/span><\/font>
\n<\/font><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n

F<\/font>ATE<\/font><\/b> followed her foreseen immutable road.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

Man’s hopes and longings build the journeying wheels<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

That bear the body of his destiny<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

And lead his blind will towards an unknown goal.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

His fate within him shapes his acts and rules;<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

Its face and form already are
\nborn in him,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nIts parentage is in his secret soul;<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Here Matter seems to mould the body’s life<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd the soul follows where its nature drives:<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Nature and Fate compel his free-will’s choice.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nBut greater spirits this balance can reverse<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd make the soul the artist of its fate.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThis is the mystic truth our ignorance hides:<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Doom is a passage for our inborn force,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOur ordeal is the hidden spirit’s choice,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnanke is our being’s own decree.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAll was fulfilled the heart of Savitri<\/span><\/p>\n

\nFlower-sweet and adamant, passionate and calm,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHad chosen and on her strength’s unbending road<\/span><\/p>\n

\nForced to its issue the long cosmic curve.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOnce more she sat behind loud hastening hooves;<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 527<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

A speed of armoured squadrons and a voice<\/span><\/p>\n

\nFar-heard of chariots bore her from her home.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nA couchant earth wakened in its dumb muse<\/span><\/p>\n

\nLooked up at her from a vast indolence:<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

Hills wallowing in a bright haze, large lands<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n
\nThat lolled at ease beneath the summer heavens,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Region on region spacious in the sun,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Cities like chrysolites in the wide blaze<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

And yellow rivers pacing, lion-maned,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Led to the Shalwa marches’ emerald line,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

A happy front to iron vastnesses<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

And austere peaks and titan solitudes.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Once more was near the fair and fated place,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

The borders gleaming with the groves’ delight<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Where first she met the face of Satyavan<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

And he saw like one waking into a dream<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Some timeless beauty and reality,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

The moon-gold sweetness of heaven’s earth-born child.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

The past receded and the future neared:<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

Far now behind lay Madra’s spacious halls,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe white carved pillars, the cool dim alcoves,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe tinged mosaic of the crystal floors,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe towered pavilions, the wind-rippled pools<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd gardens humming with the murmur of bees,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nForgotten soon or a pale memory<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe fountain’s plash in the wide stone-bound pool,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe thoughtful noontide’s brooding solemn trance,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe colonnade’s dream grey in the quiet eve,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe slow moonrise gliding in front of Night.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nLeft far behind were now the faces known,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe happy silken babble on laughter’s lips<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd the close-clinging clasp of intimate hands<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/font>
\nPage \u2013 528<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

And adoration’s light in cherished eyes<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOffered to the one sovereign of their life.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nNature’s primeval loneliness was here:<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Here only was the voice of bird and beast,\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe ascetic’s exile in the dim-souled huge<\/span><\/p>\n

\nInhuman forest far from cheerful sound<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOf man’s blithe converse and his crowded days.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nIn a broad eve with one red eye of cloud,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThrough a narrow opening, a green flowered cleft,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOut of the stare of sky and soil they came<\/span><\/p>\n

\nInto a mighty home of emerald dusk.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThere onward led by a faint brooding path<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWhich toiled through the shadow of enormous trunks<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd under arches misers of sunshine,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThey saw low thatched roofs of a hermitage<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHuddled beneath a patch of azure hue<\/span><\/p>\n

\nIn a sunlit clearing that seemed the outbreak<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOf a glad smile in the forest’s monstrous heart,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nA rude refuge of the thought and will of man<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWatched by the crowding giants of the wood.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nArrived in that rough-hewn homestead they gave,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nQuestioning no more the strangeness of her fate,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nTheir pride and loved one to the great blind king,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nA regal pillar of fallen mightiness<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd the stately care-worn woman once a queen<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWho now hoped nothing for herself from life,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nBut all things only hoped for her one child,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nCalling on that single head from partial Fate<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAll joy of earth, all heaven’s beatitude.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAdoring wisdom and beauty like a young god’s,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nShe saw him loved by heaven as by herself,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nShe rejoiced in his brightness and believed in his fate<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

\n
\n<\/font>
\nPage \u2013 529<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

<\/p>\n

And knew not of the evil drawing near.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Lingering some days upon the forest verge<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Like men who lengthen out departure’s pain,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Unwilling to separate sorrowful clinging hands,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Unwilling to see for the last time a face,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Heavy with the sorrow of a coming day<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

And wondering at the carelessness of Fate<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Who breaks with idle hands her supreme works,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

They parted from her with pain-fraught burdened hearts<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

As forced by inescapable fate we part<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

From one whom we shall never see again;<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

Driven by the singularity of her fate,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHelpless against the choice of Savitri’s heart<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThey left her to her rapture and her doom<\/span><\/p>\n

\nIn the tremendous forest’s savage charge.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAll put behind her that was once her life,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAll welcomed that henceforth was his and hers,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nShe abode with Satyavan in the wild woods:<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

Priceless she deemed her joy so close to death;<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

Apart with love she lived for love alone.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAs if self-poised above the march of days,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHer immobile spirit watched the haste of Time,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nA statue of passion and invincible force,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAn absolutism of sweet imperious will,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nA tranquillity and a violence of the gods<\/span><\/p>\n

\nIndomitable and immutable.<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

At first to her beneath the sapphire heavens<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe sylvan solitude was a gorgeous dream,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAn altar of the summer’s splendour and fire,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nA sky-topped flower-hung palace of the gods<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd all its scenes a smile on rapture’s lips<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/font>
\nPage \u2013 530<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

And all its voices bards of happiness.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThere was a chanting in the casual wind,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThere was a glory in the least sunbeam;<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Night was a chrysoprase on velvet cloth,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nA nestling darkness or a moonlit deep,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nDay was a purple pageant and a hymn,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nA wave of the laughter of light from mom to eve.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHis absence was a dream of memory,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHis presence was the empire of a god.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nA fusing of the joys of earth and heaven,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nA tremulous blaze of nuptial rapture passed,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nA rushing of two spirits to be one,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nA burning of two bodies in one flame.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOpened were gates of unforgettable bliss:<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Two lives were locked within an earthly heaven<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd fate and grief fled from that fiery hour.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nBut soon now failed the summer’s ardent breath<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd throngs of blue-black clouds crept through the sky<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd rain fled sobbing over the dripping leaves<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd storm became the forest’s titan voice.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThen listening to the thunder’s fatal crash<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd the fugitive pattering footsteps of the showers<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd the long unsatisfied panting of the wind<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd sorrow muttering in the sound-vexed night,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe grief of all the world came near to her:<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Night’s darkness seemed her future’s ominous face.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe shadow of her lover’s doom arose<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd fear laid hands upon her mortal heart.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe moments swift and ruthless raced; alarmed<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHer thoughts, her mind remembered Narad’s date.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nA trembling moved accountant of her riches,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nShe reckoned the insufficient days between:<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

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

\n

\n

<\/p>\n

A dire expectancy knocked at her breast;<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Dreadful to her were the footsteps of the hours:<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Grief came, a passionate stranger to her gate:<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Banished when in his arms, out of her sleep<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

It rose at morn to look into her face.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Vainly she fled into abysms of bliss<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

From her pursuing foresight of the end.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

The more she plunged into love that anguish grew;<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Her deepest grief from sweetest gulfs arose.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Remembrance was a poignant pang, she felt<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Each day a golden leaf torn cruelly out<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

From her too slender book of love and joy,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Thus swaying in strong gusts of happiness,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

And swimming in foreboding’s sombre waves,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

And feeding sorrow and terror with her heart,\u2014<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

For now they sat among her bosom’s guests<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Or in her inner chamber paced apart,\u2014<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Her eyes stared blind into the future’s night.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Out of her separate self she looked and saw,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Moving amid the unconscious faces loved,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

In mind a stranger though in heart so
\nnear, <\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

The ignorant smiling world go happily by<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Upon its way towards an unknown doom<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

And wondered at the careless lives of men.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

As if in different worlds they walked, though close,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

They confident of the returning sun,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

They wrapped in little hourly hopes and tasks,\u2014<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

She in her dreadful knowledge was alone.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

The rich and happy secrecy that once<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Enshrined her as if in a silver bower<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Apart in a bright nest of thoughts and dreams<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Made room for tragic hours of solitude<\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

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

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

\n

\n

And lonely grief that none could share or know,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nA body seeing the end too soon of joy<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd the fragile happiness of its mortal love.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHer quiet visage still and sweet and calm,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHer graceful daily acts were now a mask,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nIn vain she looked upon her depths to find<\/span><\/p>\n

\nA ground of stillness and the spirit’s peace.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nStill veiled from her was the silent Being within<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWho sees life’s drama pass with unmoved eyes,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nSupports the sorrow of the mind and heart<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd bears in human breasts the world and fate.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nA glimpse or flashes came, the Presence was hid.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOnly her violent heart and passionate will<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWere pushed in front to meet the immutable doom,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nDefenceless, nude, bound to her human lot<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThey had no means to act, no way to save.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThese she controlled, nothing was shown outside:<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

She was still to them the child they knew and loved;<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

The sorrowing woman they saw not within;<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

No change was in her beautiful motions seen:<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

A worshipped empress all once vied to serve,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

She made herself the diligent serf of all,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Nor spared the labour of broom and jar and well,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Or close gentle tending or to heap the fire<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Of altar and kitchen, no slight task allowed<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

To others that her woman’s strength might do.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

In all her acts a strange divinity shone:<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

Into a simplest movement she could bring<\/span><\/p>\n

\nA oneness with earth’s glowing robe of light,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nA lifting up of common acts by love.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAll-love was hers and its one heavenly cord<\/span><\/p>\n

\nBound all to all with her as golden tie.<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

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

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

\n

\n

<\/p>\n

But when her grief to the surface pressed too close,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n
\nThese things, once gracious adjuncts of her joy,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n
\nSeemed meaningless to her, a gleaming shell,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Or were a round mechanical and void,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Her body’s actions shared not by her will.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Always behind this strange divided life<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Her spirit like a sea of living fire<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Possessed her lover and to his body clung,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

One locked embrace to guard its threatened mate.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n
\nAll night she woke through the slow silent hours<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n
\nBrooding on the treasure of his bosom and face,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n
\nHung o’er the sleep-bound beauty of his brow<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Or laid her burning cheek upon his feet.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n
\nWaking at morn her lips endlessly clung to his,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Unwilling ever to separate again<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Or lose that honeyed drain of lingering joy,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Unwilling to loose his body from her breast,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n
\nThe warm inadequate signs that love must use.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Intolerant of the poverty of Time<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Her passion catching at the fugitive hours<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Willed the expense of centuries in one day<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Of prodigal love and the surf of ecstasy;<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

Or else she strove even in mortal time<\/span><\/p>\n

\nTo build a little room for timelessness<\/span><\/p>\n

\nBy the deep union of two human lives,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHer soul secluded shut into his soul.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAfter all was given she demanded still;<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Even by his strong embrace unsatisfied,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nShe longed to cry, "0 tender Satyavan,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nO lover of my soul, give more, give more<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOf love while yet thou canst, to her thou lovst.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nImprint thyself for every nerve to keep<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

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

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

\n

\n

That thrills to thee the message of my heart.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nFor soon we part and who shall know how long<\/span><\/p>\n

\nBefore the great wheel in its monstrous round<\/span><\/p>\n

\nRestore us to each other and our love?"<\/span><\/p>\n

\nToo well she loved to speak a fateful word<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd lay her burden on his happy head;<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

She pressed the outsurging grief back into her breast<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

To dwell within silent, unhelped, alone.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

But Satyavan sometimes half understood,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Or felt at least with the uncertain answer<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Of our thought-blinded hearts the unuttered need,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

The unplumbed abyss of her deep passionate want.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

All of his speeding days that he could spare<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

From labour in the forest hewing wood<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

And hunting food in the wild sylvan glades<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

And service to his father’s sightless life<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

He gave to her and helped to increase the hours<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

By the nearness of his presence and his clasp,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

And lavish softness of heart-seeking words<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

And the close beating felt of heart on heart.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

All was too little for her bottomless need.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

If in his presence she forgot awhile,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Grief filled his absence with its aching touch,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

She saw the desert of her coming days<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Imaged in every solitary hour.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Although with a vain imaginary bliss<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Of fiery union through death’s door of escape<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

She dreamed of her body robed in funeral flame,<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

She knew she must not clutch that happiness<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

To die with him and follow, seizing his robe<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Across our other countries, travellers glad<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/p>\n

Into the sweet or terrible Beyond.<\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

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

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

\n

\n

For those sad parents still would need her here<\/span><\/p>\n

\nTo help the empty remnant of their day.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOften it seemed to her the ages’ pain<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHad pressed their quintessence into her single woe<\/span><\/p>\n

\nConcentrating in her a tortured world.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThus in the silent chamber of her soul<\/span><\/p>\n

\nCloistering her love to live with secret grief<\/span><\/p>\n

\nShe dwelt like a dumb priest with hidden gods<\/span><\/p>\n

\nUnappeased by the wordless offering of her days,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nLifting to them her sorrow like frankincense,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHer life the altar, herself the sacrifice.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nYet ever they grew into each other more<\/span><\/p>\n

\nUntil it seemed no power could rend apart,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nSince even the body’s walls could not divide.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nFor when he wandered in the forest, oft<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHer conscious spirit walked with him and knew<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHis actions as if in herself he moved;<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

He, less aware, thrilled with her from afar.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAlways the stature of her passion grew;<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Grief, fear became the food of mighty love.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nIncreased by its torment it filled the whole world,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nIt was all her life, became her whole earth and heaven.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAlthough life-born, an infant of the hours,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nImmortal it walked unslayable as the gods:<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Her spirit stretched measureless in strength divine<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAn anvil for the blows of Fate and Time:<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Or tired of sorrow’s passionate luxury,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nGrief’s self became calm, dull-eyed, resolute<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAwaiting some issue of its fiery struggle,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nSome deed in which it might for ever cease,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nVictorious over itself and death and tears.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe year now paused upon the brink of change.<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

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

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

\n

\n

No more the storms sailed with stupendous wings<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd thunder strode in wrath across the world,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd still was heard a muttering in the sky<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd rain dripped wearily through the mournful air<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd grey slow-drifting clouds shut in the earth.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nSo her grief’s heavy sky shut in her heart.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nA still self hid behind but gave no light:<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

No voice came down from the forgotten heights;<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

Only in the privacy of its brooding pain<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHer human heart spoke to the body’s fate.<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

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

\n

\n

No more the storms sailed with stupendous wings<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd thunder strode in wrath across the world,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd still was heard a muttering in the sky<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd rain dripped wearily through the mournful air<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd grey slow-drifting clouds shut in the earth.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nSo her grief’s heavy sky shut in her heart.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nA still self hid behind but gave no light:<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

No voice came down from the forgotten heights,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOnly in the privacy of its brooding pain<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHer human heart spoke to the body’s fate.<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

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

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

  BOOK SEVEN The Book of Yoga CANTO ONE   THE JOY OF UNION; THE ORDEAL OF THE FOREKNOWLEDGE OF DEATH AND THE HEART’S GRIEF…<\/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-3431","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\/3431","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=3431"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3431\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}