Sri Aurobindo

Collected Poems

CWSA.- Volume 2

Part Seven. Pondicherry
Incomplete Poems from Manuscripts, c. 1927 – 1947

Vain, they have said

Vain, they have said, is the anguish of man and his labour diurnal,

Vainly his caravans cross through the desert of Time to the Eternal.

Thick and persistent the night confronts all his luminous longings;

Dire death’s sickle mows like a harvest his hosts and his throngings.

Even if all life has failed, must it therefore be failure for ever?

Are not the ages before us still for a grander endeavour?

Have we not Beauty around in a dangerous world but enthralling,

Courage inciting our steps and Thought to infinity calling?

This work was not included in SABCL, it was not compared with other editions.