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Sri Aurobindo

Translations

CWSA.- Volume 5

Part One. Translations from Sanskrit
Section Four. Bhartrihari. The Century of Life

Miscellaneous Verses

Death, not Vileness

Better to a dire verge by foemen borne,

O man, thy perishable body dashed

Upon some ragged beach by Ocean lashed,

Hurled on the rocks with bleeding limbs and torn;

Better thy hand on the dire cobra’s tooth

Sharp-venomed or to anguish in the fire,

Not at the baser bidding of desire

Thy heart’s high virtue lost and natural truth.