SRI AUROBINDO

Translations

from Sanskrit and Other Languages

II. From Bengali

Chittaranjan Das

Songs of the Sea (Sagar Sangit)

XXXIII

Evening has not descended yet, fast sets the sun;

Darkness and light together seize on thee as one.

Gazing upon thy luminous dusk the clouds float by,

The charmed wind o’er thy troubled lights sings murmuringly.

Upon this undark darkness and enchanted light

Heaven wondering gazes down, a silence infinite.

O Ocean, travelling what uncertain shadowy reign

Sing’st thou a song of sadness and a hampered strain?

To what vast problem hast thou found no answer yet?

With what sad doubt are thy steps burdened, pilgrim great?

With life and death what converse dost thou hold today?

What lyre has broken in thy hands? what pains dismay?

All darkness earth endures, all light that reaches life

Pour on my being, Ocean, from thy soul’s huge strife.

My soul too grows a trembling shadow mid these shades.

What hope is here or truth? What fear? What lie invades?