Mind of Man*

An ivory tower with obstructed view

In which we build our world philosophies

Combining old ideas to seem like new

The ego-self to pamper and to please.

Monotony in which the highest thought

Subserves the bland necessities of greed

Where pleasure a commodity is bought

And sold to fill desire's endless need.

A few have met the Mother of us all

Descended here a flame of sheer-white light,

Who enters us with every sincere call

And banishes from souls with God's own might

The gloomy limitations of our race,

To peer beyond the future's brilliant ridge

Feel the sun of truth upon our face

And greet the dawn across the golden bridge.

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* This poem was inspired by the following words of Nolini Kanta Gupta in his book " . . .man today happens to be so sophisticated, artificial, material, cerebral that a fallback seems to be necessary for him to take a new leap forward to a higher ground. The pure aesthete is a closed system, with a consciousness immured in an ivory tower; but man is something more. . ."