Silent Prayer

Sri Aurobindo when shall I break free

Of body, mind and ego's treachery,

Of all these thousand shackles self-imposed

And all within that still lies locked and closed.

Have aspiration's embers cooled to ash

Does sorrow suck the marrow of my soul

Am I the flesh for flagellation's lash

Limping towards some masochistic goal?

Or is this but a stage where Death, the king

Of nothingness has caught me in his snare,

Who joys in loss inflicting with his sting

A haunting grief that borders on despair.

I know that I am Thine, my path assured

When Mother lit the flame long years ago,

Why then this stagnant space where I'm immured

All progress stilled or maddeningly slow.

The dark night of the soul must come to all

Who seek to realize a birth in light

And patiently await the ego's fall,

Release the soul upon its Godward flight

That all in us may change, be deified,

Transformed this vale of suffering and pain,

For which the avatars took birth and died

And earth become the Truth's supreme domain.