Sri Aurobindo

Translations

CWSA.- Volume 5

Part Two. Translations from Bengali
Section Three. Chittaranjan Das

Songs of the Sea

I

O thou unhoped-for elusive wonder of the skies,

Stand still one moment! I will lead thee and bind

With music to the chambers of my mind.

Behold how calm today this sea before me lies

And quivering with what tremulous heart of dreams

In the pale glimmer of the faint moonbeams.

If thou at last art come indeed, O mystery, stay

Woven by song into my heart-beats from this day.

Stand, goddess, yet! Into this anthem of the seas

With the pure strain of my full voiceless heart

Some rhythm of the rhythmless, some part

Of thee I would weave today, with living harmonies

Peopling the solitude I am within.

Wilt thou not here abide on that vast scene,

Thou whose vague raiment edged with dream haunts us and flees,

Fulfilled in an eternal quiet like this sea’s?