Whom the Spirit Seeks   Myriads of worlds crash in our hearts each day, Yet in strange ocean-founts renewed they rise, Grow vast in understanding as the skies, Though hatreds rage and comrade-souls betray. And still through nights of peril and dismay, The dark suns' war, the cosmic agonies, To the clear heart's lone cry something replies, The voice of One who calls all hearts away...   One whom the spirit seeks through many births, Through storm-break, heart-break, howling winds of doom In forests passion-black, wastes of life's mire, Deserts and debris, ruins of ancient earths; — One who, unseen, leads her through

Reed of the Yamuna   Reed of the Yamuna, The flute-boy is come,  But ere through your body The mad rhythms hum,   O reed of the river, Much sorrow and strain  Will be yours — the cleansing, The shaping, notched pain.   From touch of sweet waters And cool fragrant sand,  The strong hand shall wrench you, The passionate hand.   But when it puts through you, With swiftness and poise, The small knife of silver, Be glad and rejoice.   Reed of the Yamuna, The mute agony Will pass through your being And set your soul free;   Will pass like a dark spell,  And you who endured, Find

Thou and All   Sweet Love, now all is over with me; The myriad worlds within my heart Are dead in thy infinity, And now, Thou only art.   The souls of things, untrammelled, free, Break through earth's dam, the body's wall, Mingle and merge within thy sea, And Thou, O Love, art all.   But through thy silence and thy peace, Descends a voice from planes above, Vibrates and runs upon the seas, And all is Thou, O Love. Page-38

Awaiting Orders   Lord, don't you see this state of mind, The chaos dancing in the brain? Mete out your sunshine to the blind, From freeing floods of light, refrain.   How shall this being hold the flow, The throng of words and melodies That pour and pour non-stop and grow A whirlpool in the inner seas?   The body's breathless with the power, Life shaken longs to sit apart; But there's betrayal in this hour, A black-out in the offered heart.   ... I do not know, Lord, your Will stands. Order the work that's to be done; For all the world is in your hands, Both chaos and the dancing sun. Page-166

-101_The Spirit's Claim The Spirit's Claim   ...Where the pathways meet, we are one, And where the pathways are different. I hold the paradox to my heart and wait.   Let the strangeness grow within me to silence and reconciliation. Let me accept this fulfilment that has come.   Upon the lonely roads, where separation made me sing, a new young loneliness grows to silence, to the prelude of this fulfilment...   Your limbs and life are everywhere, O Beautiful: All things are words, words grown suddenly rich in meaning — puns and quibbles and symbols, — the rose, the thorns, the tree and hill and sky... Lo! how the spirit dances upon sense

Assurance   When all your life has gone to pieces, Smashed on the stillness of your soul, I'll shine within the interstices And come and make you new and whole.   Be brave, fling all your being's treasure Within the fires I have lit;  My Love has neither stop nor measure, So prove your love too infinite. Page-17

"There are moments when..."   O sweet Compassion, Heart of love, What wondrous mercies flood our days; Blind, foolish souls are rapt in light, Deliverance lifts its joy and praise.   On heights where climbing pathways meet, The toil-worn sages prayed for Grace; But we, the dust beneath their feet, Have seen the glory of Your face. Page-85

Enchantment   A brief pure moment's ecstasy, Arrows of singing flame, Within the heart's white silence free The music of Thy name.   O wizard Love, Enchanter, Thou, Unweave the darkness, place Thy stars of peace upon my brow, Thy sun-truth on my face. Page-136

The Clue   This is how the magic works: Behind the screen of sense and thought A strange unearthly beauty lurks, Awaiting to be caught.   The hidden dream-lanes inward reach To shining waters, caverned deep, Beyond the pale release of speech, In unknown tracts of sleep.   No clues? No tappings, plumbings might Unseal those doors in Matter's wall; Those secret fortresses of light Only to self-giving fall. Page-99

Brindaban   Where the frail dawnlight trickled through The red-rose leaves and scent, By pathways where the moth-hour flew, My golden lover went.   In alleys sweet with moss and fern, Where the sunlight trembles through, In a dance of warm white whisperings Upon the iris dew;   And the twittering secrets meet and scatter The flutings of the day,  Between the tiny winks of silence, He softly went away.   When the moon-cleaned fruit is gathered home, Through watches of the night, He will come again with song and dance Within the winds of Light.   Page-28