Soul Behind the Veil

I caught a fleeting glimpse
Of a soul behind the veil.
A soft white radiance
Beyond all human scale.

As in a cocoon it lay
Wrapped in splendid peace
Dreaming of a distant day
When ego's rule would cease.

All past lives it knew,
Gathered round its core
And death and birth walked through
Its ever-welcoming door

Opening on worlds unknown
To man in his outwardness.
In the star-fields of God it has grown
Through our joy, our pain and duress

To unite with the Godhead above
Who leans to aspiring earth
Shaping from founts of his love
The mould for the superman's birth.

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Amal's comment: "Very felicitous all through. I liked especially the third stanza."

First published in Mother India – January 2001