Sri Aurobindo

Collected Poems

CWSA.- Volume 2

Baroda and Pondicherry, c. 1902 – 1936
Poems Past and Present

Life

Mystic daughter¹ of Delight,

Life, thou ecstasy,

Let the radius of thy flight

Be eternity.

On thy wings thou bearest high

Glory and disdain,

Godhead and mortality,

Ecstasy and pain.

Take me in thy bold² embrace

Without weak reserve,

Body dire and unveiled face;

Faint not, Life, nor swerve.

All thy bliss I would explore,

All thy tyranny.

Cruel like the lion’s roar,

Sweet like springtide be.

Like a Titan I would take,

Like a God enjoy,

Like a man contend and make,

Revel like a boy.

More I will not ask of thee,

Nor my fate would choose;

King or conquered let me be,

Vanquish, Life,³ or lose.

Even in rags I am a god;

Fallen, I am divine;

High I triumph when down-trod,

Long I live when slain.

Earlier edition of this work: Sri Aurobindo Birth Century Library: Set in 30 volumes.- Volume 5.- Collected Poems.- Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Asram, 1972.- 625 p.

¹ 1972 ed. SABCL, vol.5: Mystic Miracle, daughter

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² 1972 ed. SABCL, vol.5: wild

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³ 1972 ed. SABCL, vol.5: Live

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