The Infinite Adventure   On the waters of a nameless Infinite My skiff is launched; I have left the human shore. All fades behind me and I see before The unknown abyss and one pale pointing light. An unseen Hand controls my rudder. Night Walls up the sea in a black corridor,  — An inconscient Hunger's lion plaint and roar Or the ocean sleep of a dead Eremite.   I feel the greatness of the Power I seek Surround me; below me are its giant deeps, Beyond, the invisible height no soul has trod. I shall be merged in the Lonely and Unique And wake into a sudden blaze of God, The

  Lyrical Poems from Manuscripts Circa 1934 ­ 1947     Symbol Moon   Once again thou hast climbed, O moon, like a white fire on the glimmering edge, Floating up, floating up from the haunted verge of a foam-tremulous sea. Mystic-horned here crossing the grey-hued listless nights and days, Spirit-silver craft from the ports of eternity.   Overhead with thy plunging and swaying prow thou fleetest, O ship of the gods, Glorifying the clouds with thy halo, but our hearts with a rose-red rapture shed from the secret breasts of love; Almost thou seemest the very bliss

'Collected Poems' by Sri Aurobindo - Page 1 of 50   Incomplete Poems from Manuscripts Circa 1912 ­ 1920     Thou who controllest   Thou who controllest the wide-spuming Ocean and settest its paces, Hear me, thou strong and resistless Poseidon, lord of the waters. Dancing thy waves in their revel Titanic, tossing my vessel One to another, laugh from their raucous throats of derision, Dropping it deep in their troughs till it buries its prow in the welter. Comrades dear as the drops of my heart have been left when it rises, Left in thy salt and lonely seas, and the scream of the tempest Chides me that still I

  Poems from Manuscripts Circa 1900 ­ 1906     To the Boers   (Written during the progress of the Boer War.)   O Boers, you have dared much and much endured For freedom, your strong simple hearts inured To danger and privation nor so made As by death's daily grasp to be dismayed, Nor numbers nor disasters in the field, Nor to o'erwhelming multitudes to yield. It was no secondary power you faced, But she who has the whole wide world embraced, England whose name is as the thunder, she Whose navies are the despots of the sea, Napoleon's conqueror whose fair dreadful face

Collected Poems Publisher's Note   Collected Poems comprises all of Sri Aurobindo's poetical works with the exception of (1) the epic Savitri, (2) poetic dramas, (3) most translations into verse of poetry in Sanskrit, Bengali and other languages, and (4) original poetry in Bengali and Sanskrit. Savitri is published as volumes 33 and 34 of THE COMPLETE WORKS OF SRI AUROBINDO; the poetic dramas are included in volumes 3 and 4, Collected Plays and Stories; the poetic translations are included in volume 5, Translations; and the original poetry in

  Nonsense and "Surrealist" Verse     A Ballad of Doom   There was an awful awful man Who all things knew and none And never met a Saracen And always drank a bun. He said he was a bullywag And that he did it for fun. I don't know what a bullywag is And I don't think he was one. Of nonsense and Omniscience He spoke as one who knew That this was like a temperament And that was like a hue. He said there was a phantom sun That saw a branching sky And he who could but never should Was always God's best boy. And he who should but ne

'Collected Poems' by Sri Aurobindo - Page 1 of 50   Appendix   Poems in Greek and in French     Greek Epigram     Page – 685 Lorsque rien n'existait   Lorsque rien n'existait, l'amour existait, Et lorsqu'il ne restera plus rien, l'amour restera. Il est le premier et le dernier, Il est le pont de la vérité, Il est le compagnon dans l'angle du tombeau, Il est le lierre qui s'attache a l'arbre et prend sa belle vie verte dans le cœur qu'il dévore. C'est pourquoi, O mon frère doué d'intelligence pure, Qui te diriges dans la voie par le tamarin de la direction, Qui

  Ilion Bk-III   No, when the wrestlers meet and embrace in the mighty arena, Not at their sins and their virtues the high gods look in that trial; Which is the strongest, which is the subtlest, this they consider. Nay, there is none in the world to befriend save ourselves and our courage; Prowess alone in the battle is virtue, skill in the fighting Only helps, the gods aid only the strong and the valiant. Put forth your lives in the blow, you shall beat back the banded aggressors. Neither believe that for justice denied your subjects have left you Nor that for justice trampled Pallas and Hera abandon. Two are the an

  Narrative Poems Published in 1910     Baji Prabhou   Author's Note   This poem is founded on the historical incident of the heroic self-sacrifice of Baji Prabhou Deshpande, who to cover Shivaji's retreat, held the pass of Rangana for two hours with a small company of men against twelve thousand Moguls. Beyond the single fact of this great exploit there has been no attempt to preserve historical accuracy.   Page – 293   Baji Prabhou   A noon of Deccan with its tyrant glare Oppressed the earth; the hills stood deep in haze, And sweltering athirst the fiel

  Love and Death...contd.   Even sin may be a sumptuous sacrifice Acceptable for unholy fruits. But none Of these the inexorable shadow asks: Alone of gods Death loves not gifts: he visits The pure heart as the stained. Lo, the just man Bowed helpless over his dead, nor all his virtues Shall quicken that cold bosom: near him the wild Marred face and passionate and will not leave Kissing dead lips that shall not chide him more. Life the pale ghost requires: with half thy life Thou mayst protract the thread too early cut Of that delightful spirit  —  half sweet life. O Ruru, lo, thy frail precarious days, And