SRI AUROBINDO

Translations

from Sanskrit and Other Languages

II. From Bengali

Chittaranjan Das

Songs of the Sea (Sagar Sangit)

III

Long gazing on this dawn and restless sea,

My heart is moved with a strange minstrelsy.

Tranquil and full and slow that music’s sound

Or a chant pitiful, tender and profound.

At times its passing fills my heart with tears.

Maddened it runs and maddening him who hears.

What spirit lives and laughs and weeps in thee?

What thought is here that cries eternally?

I know not, but a trembling sweet and strong

Has taken my every limb touched by thy song,

O infinite Voice, O Soul that callst to me,

As I look on this luminous dawn and on the sea!