Sri Aurobindo
Letters of Sri Aurobindo
CWSA 27
Fragment ID: 7111
Amal Kiran (K. D. Sethna) [3]
Is this poem nearer perfection now?
“O thou who wast enamoured of earth’s bloom
And intimate fragrance and charmed throbbing voice
Of mutable pleasure now disdained by Thee –
Far-visaged wanderer, dost thou rejoice
Straining towards the empty-hearted gloom
To kiss the cold lips of Eternity?”
“Fruitless and drear has proved each carnal prize
When he who strove could bring no face of flame,
And1 wild magnificence of youth’s caress....
Not with sage calm, but thrilled vast hands, I claim
The unfathomed dark which round my spirit lies –
And touch undying, rapturous Loveliness!”
The second verse is slightly better, but it is not at all equal to the first. Poetry that arrives at its aim gives the reader a sense of satisfying finality in the expression (even when the substance is insignificant); it is like an arrow that hits the target in the centre. Poetry that passes by the target or hits only the outside of it, either fails or gets a partial success, but in any case it does not carry that sense of satisfying finality. This is the difference between the two verses.
10 July 1931
1 Better repeat the “No”; it will strengthen a little these two lines, which are rather weak compared with the rest.