Because2 Thou hadst all eternity to amuse,Sri Aurobindo
Collected Poems
SABCL - Volume 5
II. Sonnets
1930–1950
Because2 Thou hadst all eternity to amuse,
O dramatist of death and life and birth3,
O sculptor of the living shapes of earth,
World-artist revelling in forms and hues,
A mathematician Mind that never errs,4
Thou hast played with theorems, numbers, measures, cubes,
Passed cells, electrons, molecules through Thy tubes,
World-forces for Thy Science’s ministers,
And made a universe of5 Thy theories,
Craftsman minute, an6 architect of might7.
Protean is Thy Spirit of Delight,
An adept8 of a thousand mysteries.
Or built9 some deep Necessity, not Thy whim,
Fate and Inconscience and the snare10 of Time?
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: Creation
2 2009 ed. CWSA, vol.2: Since
3 In 2009 ed. this line is placed after the next one
4 In 2009 ed. this and next three lines run:
Hast Thou shaped the marvel of the whirling spheres,
A scientist passing Nature through his tubes,
And played with numbers, measures, theorems, cubes,
O mathematician Mind that never errs,
5 2009 ed. CWSA, vol.2: Building a universe from
6 2009 ed. CWSA, vol.2: and
7 'In 2009 ed. this line is placed after the next one
8 2009 ed. CWSA, vol.2: World-adept
9 2009 ed. CWSA, vol.2: forged
10 2009 ed. CWSA, vol.2: net