Defeat An Empty Shibboleth

She is gone, the song within me stilled

Leaf fall and life fall I retreat

To inner silences, the year is killed

That once had lived while she on soundless feet

Walks above the brilliant tiers of space.

Man is a mystery mask apparelled in skin,

Structured bone beneath an aging face

A starting point for spirit to begin

The exploration of its divinity.

In a changing dress the soul comes and goes,

Awaking as a conscious entity

Suffers birth and death and all our worldly woes

To fill the body-mind with greater breath

Drawn from the wells of wonder and belief

That knows defeat an empty shibboleth

And passes beyond our time-constructed grief

To meet the Mother in Her house of light

And Lord Sri Aurobindo's delivering sight.