Act II   Scene 1   The woodlands as at first. Foresters and girls. Melander leans against a tree absorbed in thought: in one group Marcion and Ermenild are talking: in another Iamblichus and Myrtil: Myrtil comes forward.   MYRTIL What passion, dear Melander, numbs thy voice? Why wilt thou cherish humorous peevishness, The nursling of a moment and a mood? Now kernelled in the golden husk of day Pale night with all her pomp of sorrow sleeps, And stinted of soft-clinging melancholy The elegiac nightingale is hushed.   MELANDER Sweet friend, my spirit is too deeply hued With sombre-sweet Imagination's brush

  The Birth of Sin   A Drama   LUCIFER, the Angel of Power. SIRIOTH, the Angel of Love. GABRIEL, the Angel of Obedience. MICHAEL, the Angel of War. RAPHAEL, the Angel of Sweetness. THE ELOHIM. BELIAL, the Angel of Reason. BAAL, the Angel of Worldly Wisdom. MOLOCH, the Angel of Wrath. SUN. ASHTAR, the Angel of Beauty. MEROTH, the Angel of Youth.    Prologue _____ _____   Act I   LUCIFER Master of light and glory, lift thy rays Over the troubled flood; lift up thy rays. Obey me. SUN Lucifer! who gave thee power Over the gods that rule the ancient world? Or why sh

  Act III   Bassora.   Scene 1   Ibn Sawy's house. A room in the outer apartments decorated for a banquet. Doonya, Anice, Balkis.   DOONYA Lord, how they pillage! Even the furniture Cannot escape these Djinns. Ogre Ghaneem Picks up that costly chair between his teeth And off to his castle; devil Ayoob drops That table of mosaic in his pocket; Zeb sweeps off rugs and couches in a whirlwind. What purse will long put up with such ill-treatment?   BALKIS It must be checked.   DOONYA 'Tis much that he has kept His promise to my uncle. Oh, he's sound! These villains spoil him. Anic

  Act V   Scene 1 A room in Vasavadutta's apartments. Vasavadutta, Munjoolica.   VASAVADUTTA So thou hast dared to come.   MUNJOOLICA I have. Thou, dare To look me in the eyes. Thou canst not. Then?   VASAVADUTTA Hast thou no fear of punishment at all?   MUNJOOLICA For shutting thee in with heaven? none, none at all.   VASAVADUTTA How didst thou dare?   MUNJOOLICA How didst thou dare, proud girl, To make of kings and princesses thy slaves? How dare to drag Sourashtra's daughter here, To keep her as thy servant and to load With gifts, caresses, chidings and commands, The puppet of thy sweet imperious will?

  Act III   The forest near Dongurh.   Scene 1   Comol, Coomood, meeting in the forest.   COOMOOD Where were you hidden, Comol, all this morning?   COMOL I have been wandering in my woods alone Imagining myself their mountain queen. O Coomood, all the woodland worshipped me! Coomood, the flowers held up their incense-bowls In adoration and the soft-voiced winds Footing with a light ease among the leaves Paused to lean down and lisp into my ear, Oh, pure delight. The forest's unnamed birds Hymned their sweet sovran lady as she walked Lavishing melody. The furry squirrels Peeped from the leaves and wav

VOLUME 3 and 4 THE COMPLETE WORKS OF SRI AUROBINDO © Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust 1998 Published by Sri Aurobindo Ashram Publication Department Printed at Sri Aurobindo Ashram Press, Pondicherry PRINTED IN INDIA Collected Plays and Stories Publisher's Note   Collected Plays and Stories comprises all Sri Aurobindo's original dramatic

  Act III   Scene 1   Before Alaciel's house.   GUENDOLEN But what you tell me is not credible. Could Love at the prime vision slip your fence And his red bees wing humming to your heart? What, at the premier interchange of eyes Seed bulged into the bud, the bud to flower, Bloom waxing into fruit? can passion sink Thus deep embedded in a maiden soil? Masks not your love in an unwonted guise?   ALACIEL Sweet girl, you are a casket yet unused, A fair, unprinted page. These mysteries Are alien to your grasp, until Love pen His novel lithograph and write in you Songs bubbling with the music of a name. Oh, I am faster tangl

  Act V   Scene 1   The sea-shore. Andromeda chained to the cliff.   ANDROMEDA O iron-throated vast unpitying sea, Whose borders touch my feet with their cold kisses As if they loved me! yet from thee my death Will soon arise, and in some monstrous form To tear my heart with horror before my body. I am alone with thee on this wild beach Filled with the echo of thy roaring waters. My fellowmen have cast me out: they have bound me Upon thy rocks to die. These cruel chains Weary the arms they keep held stiffly out Against the rough cold jagged stones. My bosom Hardly contains its thronging sobs; my heart Is torn