SILVER FLAME WHEN night has risen and foamed to stars Out of the sable pot Rimmed by horizon mysteries And floored with our finite lot, Then as one rising through the dark air. Clinging to the ground no more, I would utterly lose this finite bubble hood Of self and earthly lore And pass to the high serene ethers, Bursting through finite name, To meet, to mingle, be made one with The unborn Silver Flame. October 28, 1936. Page-228

SACHCHIDANANDA O I would find the truth way That leads to Thee From the outward shores of silver To the Ultimate Sea. O I would hear the fire-speech" That echoes Thee And pens in flaming ramparts Each galaxy. O I would rock the infant Born with each world— Feel the fingers of Beauty On my finger curled. July 2,1934. Page-77

LOVE THE VINDICATOR NOR sleep nor leave me ; evermore press on Unswervingly as justice, paramount, Shadow less, unhasting, undismayed, Or as in tenderness of twilit skies Translunar radiance forthglimmering Starkly from Truth's vigil and far thronging Of gold-apparelled unappeasable stars. March 27, 1933. Page-31

PRELUDE MY mind would be as wax or snow Smoothly white, silent and aware Of a Song unsphered in earth-dim register, Of Bliss where peace ward footsteps go. Waves of desire be still and leave A grief-un furrowed lotus lake, Whereon the quest full lifting blossoms break In worship-banners when the eve Has limned a trance upon the air, A swirl of sunset on the stream, An ecstasy of quivering bells that seem Born from the heart of Prayer. August 20, 1933- Page-37

IF OF THOSE FEET IF of those feet my eyes might catch one gleam (Her footstep bears the silver note of dawn) —White-dove-attended, who. but She was borne Cythera-ward, in foam-kissed car of dream ? Grant this bowed head to feel Her passing hem (Whose faring stars with blossom all the Spring), Such term less joy the unglimpsed feet shall bring— How name the flower, if this be but the stem ? August 26, 1936. Page-201

VITA SUB SPECIE AMORIST NO, do not seal my eyes, Death, do not come : Some voice your power denies— Beat not your drum ; These victor thoughts arise, " Amabo, ergo sum." Here is no love that dies, Though for aeons dumb ; Not Lethe wards it flies, Nor do its wings grow numb But spurn your nether skies : " Amabo, ergo sum." February 15, 1934. Page-50

TO BOBBY IN THINKING ABOUT HIS FUTURE A DIAMOND cuts and is not cut again, The antelope is swifter than its foes, And all your boyhood's puissance free of stain To the trim fibre of a true man grows. For tenscore years the tortoise lives and thrives ; Be yours that wholeness and that strength of aim. Spring left a tang of freshness in the hives ; On your life's honey shall God breathe the same. Up out of new-tangled greed and olden fear The unmarred pinions of your spirit soar And pierce to the golden height where sun-peaks rear Their beauty's dreaming and their song-built lore— So

"SONG" [Suggested in part by two lines in W. B. Yeats' poem THE WITHERING OF THE BOUGHS- " I know of the sleepy country, where swans fly round Coupled with golden chains, and sing as they fly."] THROUGHOUT the silver reaches of the dawn Gentle and happy with a flush of rose All the high loyalties their hearts had sworn And armoured Time could never quell nor any grave might close Rose up and broke in foam-fresh of morning sky : Thus Brightness spoke and heard dim earth reply— " There is a clearness more silver than the dew, Within the questing thought it builds a fane ; The clear-lit hope untrammelled hearts pursue

SADHANA CAST off that outward life, The foe to what must be born ; Bevel with whittling knife Wide windows for the dawn. Break through the subtle net Of past ward-aimed desire : High in hope's turret set The all-renewing fire. Within a barren world, Clear spring, a space of trees,— Could the mirage Wrong unfurled Be matched with these ? Page-93

THE WHITE AND PERFECT MOON O PERFECT moon ; O sky of undimmed glory ; O earth as won with a far wave-murmured story Winding among your dreams (Guarded from mercenary sight, That silver palace built of light, Those fountains fed from moon-enchanted streams). Moon-fragrant deep, strew thy petalled hours Upon our sleep, till touched with subtler powers Of augury it scries Within the crystal bowl of night An inscape of unfettered Light ; Lagoons embrinked with joy ; grief-unshadowed skies. July 26, 1934. Page-78