Sri Aurobindo,
poems

 
   Life 


   Mystic Miracle, daughter of Delight,
        Life, thou ecstasy,                 
   Let the radius of thy flight    
        Be eternity. 
   
   On thy wings thou bearest high  
        Glory and disdain,             
   Godhead and mortality,             
        Ecstasy and pain.              
   
   Take me in thy wild embrace       
        Without weak reserve           
   Body dire and unveiled face;      
        Faint not, Life, nor swerve. 
   
   All thy bliss I would explore,    
        All thy tyranny.                 
   Cruel like the lion's roar,        
        Sweet like springtide be.      
   
   Like a Titan I would take,     
        Like a God enjoy,            
   Like a man contend and make,   
        Revel like a boy.            
   
   More I will not ask of thee,    
        Nor my fate would choose;   
   King or conquered let me be,     
        Live or lose.                   
   
   Even in rags I am a god;           
        Fallen, I am divine;           
   High I triumph when down-trod,   
        Long I live when slain.        

1998 Feb 26 Th