Visions from Distant Spheres I have a few poems left in me. Close by the candle's flame I write Of thoughts that live eternally And love that died one lovely night, Another just as the sun arose. Having been no father, held no son Bawling from the shock of birth, I cannot talk of fatherhood Or meditate on battles won Upon the bloody turf of earth. How then shall my voice add or bring New songs to men unlike the old Unless my soul leap out and sing Of visions gathered from the far And distant spheres of frozen space Where it knew the name o

Child-Soul Sad smiling eyes that scarce could comprehend The Drama and the Music and the Dance When fear lay hidden in a speck of sand And terror in a smile and backward glance.

Auroville Haiku All this day Smiles of strangers Warm me as the Indian sun. Red earth roads, Golden discs And gardens hanging in the air. I see children, Children of children Whose parents were my juniors then. Weathered stones, Rocklike handshakes Forged in the Auroville sun. Out of the red-clay Laterite How silently the forest springs.

Three Haiku Nearer now The mountain peaks That seemed so distant in my youth. I look on things With wondrous eyes As the newborn fawn perceives the world. Friend of my soul And Mother's child Your love turns back the press of time.

The Matrimandir Chamber A perfect crystal on a golden base, The future of the world is centred here I see the fire glow in every face And feel the day and hour drawing near. All is white on white, the marble hall, The columns towering towards the skies, The carpet where the feet of pilgrims fall, A force-field of supernal energies. A vibratory silence fills all space As subtle light bathes the souls who come To this the offered spirit's meeting place, To rendezvous with God in Her Great Home.

By Higher Powers Spurred on by a driving force within I cannot rest in idleness and peace, There are fierce fires burning all to raze The fort of shadows and they will not cease Their cleansing till the inner work is done. For in the temple are unholy things And tear-stained statues that demand release, Idols of thought that have grown mighty wings And fly uninterrupted through the mind. Perhaps the demons of my darkest hours Who parry with their forceful night my prayers Can only be destroyed by higher powers; But I must fin

Transubstantiation of the Flesh I have drunk the sacramental wine, the bread Unleavened, eaten slowly that I might taste The essence of the message he had spread. A love divine through my body raced. Is He not born again and yet again In this seemingly inexplicable dream Of a world where rapture rules and grinding pain Is worn away as a stone in a rushing stream? And yet it is no dream that we have come To drink from the silver chalice, the soul refresh Our aspiration to make this world His home By the transubstantiation of the flesh.

The One Refound He saw the stars as Heaven's tears Falling one by one, For all that's lovely disappears And all that's made, undone. He wept for beauty that was lost Never to come again And built in time at a great cost His edifice of pain. One day his musing soul replied Go within and see The home of the eternal bride, Your spirit's destiny. He went inside the cave and found A fire on a stone, A temple on the sacred ground, He was no more alone. For there encased in mystic light A being strong and sweet, The One refound now claimed his sight, He knelt and touched His feet.

The Hour of God that Now Arrives In the closet of an ill-used mind I found a treasury of things, A thousand winters of delight, The laughter of a thousand springs. No spider-webs of thought were there No contraries that could not meet A melody upon the air A golden carpet for my feet. In an alcove of another kind, A space where silent beauty grew All sorrow fled as I reclined On flower carpets white and blue. In the body's house so fairly built By the architect who dreams our lives I saw transformed all sin and guilt In the hour of god that now arrives.

Youth and Youthful Dreams In a clearing near a dark inviting wood Strawberries grew like rubies in the grass, Red stains upon our knees, red juices ran From the corners of our mouths; our tongues turned red, Our fingers bled with stains of happiness. So through the years we followed Nature's gold, Blueberries like agates shone in light-starved swamps, Down the country lane and up the hill The apples reddened in the sunset glow. Hickory nuts along the roadside fell While mushrooms sprouted in damp autumn days. All giving things of earth recall to me Delight of seasons to my growing soul. All my youth and all my youthful dreams Found