Sri Aurobindo

Letters on Poetry and Art

SABCL - Volume 27

Part 2. On His Own and Others’ Poetry
Section 2. On Poets and Poetry
Comments on the Work of Poets of the Ashram

Amal Kiran (K. D. Sethna) [4]

This errant life is dear although it dies;

And human lips are sweet though they but sing

Of stars estranged from us; and youth’s emprise

Is wondrous yet, although an unsure thing.

Cloud-lucent Bliss untouched by earthiness!

I fear to soar lest tender bonds grow less

Beyond the waving verdure of our {{0}}sighs.[[This line is terribly fanciful in expression. Green sighs? Sighs with branches?]]

If Thou desirest my weak self to outgrow

Its mortal longings, lean down from above,

Temper the unborn light no thought can trace,

Suffuse my mood with a familiar glow!

For ’tis with mouth of clay I supplicate;

Speak to me heart to heart words intimate,

And all Thy formless glory turn to love

And mould Thy love into a human face!

But for this one unfortunate line a beautiful poem, one of the very best you have written. The last six lines, one may say even the last eight, are absolutely perfect. If you could always write like that, you would take your place among English poets and no low place {{0}}either.[[For Sri Aurobindo’s opinion of the final version of this poem, see pp. 203 – 04. — Ed.]]

July 1931