Sri Aurobindo

Collected Poems

SABCL - Volume 5

I. Short Poems
1902-1930

Is this the end¹

Is this the end of all that we have been,

And all we did or dreamed,–

A name unremembered and a form undone,–

Is this the end?

A body rotting under a slab of stone

Or turned to ash in fire,

A mind dissolved, lost its forgotten thoughts,–

Is this the end?

Our little hours that were and are no more,

Our passions once so high

Being² mocked by the still earth and calm sunshine,–

Is this the end?

Our yearnings for the human Godward climb

Passing to other hearts

Deceived, while smiles³ towards death and hell the world,–

Is this the end?

Fallen is the harp; shattered it lies and mute;

Is the unseen player dead?

Because the tree is felled where the bird sang,

Must the song too hush?

One in the mind who planned and willed and thought,

Worked to reshape earth’s fate,

One in the heart who loved and yearned and hoped,

Does he too end?

The Immortal in the mortal is his Name;

An artist Godhead here

Ever remoulds himself in diviner shapes,

Unwilling to cease

Till all is done for which the stars were made,

Till the heart discovers God

And the soul⁴ knows itself. And even then

There is no end.

Later edition of this work: The Complete Works of Sri Aurobindo.- Set in 37 volumes.- Volume 2.- Collected Poems.- Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram, 2009.- 751 p.

¹ 2009 ed. CWSA, vol.2: The End?

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² 2009 ed. CWSA, vol.2: Dying

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³ 2009 ed. CWSA, vol.2: sinks

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⁴ 2009 ed. CWSA, vol.2: soul

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