Collected Poems - Sri Aurobindo Ashram

770 Pages·2008·1.94 MB·English

by  Sri Aurobindo

2
Collected Poems
VOLUME2
THE COMPLETE WORKS OF SRI AUROBINDO
©SriAurobindoAshramTrust2009
Published by Sri Aurobindo Ashram Publication Department
Printed at Sri Aurobindo Ashram Press, Pondicherry
PRINTEDININDIA
Collected Poems
Publisher’s Note
CollectedPoemscomprisesallofSriAurobindo’spoeticalworks
with the exception of (1) the epic Savitri, (2) poetic dramas,
(3) mosttranslationsintoverseofpoetryinSanskrit,Bengaliand
otherlanguages,and(4)originalpoetryinBengaliandSanskrit.
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 trans-
lations are included in volume 5, Translations; and the original
poetryinSanskritandBengaliispublishedinvolume9,Writings
in Bengali and Sanskrit.
The present volume includes all short and narrative poems
in English that Sri Aurobindo published during his lifetime. It
also includes all complete poems found among his manuscripts
after his passing, as well as incomplete poetry that the editors
thought worthy of inclusion.
Thepoemshavebeenarrangedinsevenoverlappingchrono-
logical parts, which are subdivided into sections representing
different genres and states of completeness. Poems published in
small books during Sri Aurobindo’s lifetime have, for the most
part, been kept together as published.
SriAurobindoworkedonthepoemsinthisvolumeoverthe
course of seven decades. The first one was published in 1883,
when he was ten. A number were composed or revised more
than sixty years later, during the late 1940s.

CONTENTS
Part One
England and Baroda 1883–1898
PoemPublished in 1883
Light 5
Songs to Myrtilla
Songs to Myrtilla 9
O Co¨ıl, Co¨ıl 15
Goethe 16
The Lost Deliverer 16
Charles Stewart Parnell 17
Hic Jacet 17
Lines on Ireland 18
On a Satyr and Sleeping Love 22
A Rose of Women 22
Saraswati with the Lotus 22
Night by the Sea 23
The Lover’s Complaint 26
Love in Sorrow 28
The Island Grave 30
Estelle 31
Radha’s Complaint in Absence 32
Radha’s Appeal 32
Bankim Chandra Chatterji 34
Madhusudan Dutt 35
To the Cuckoo 36
Envoi 37
Poems fromManuscripts, c. 1891–1898
To a Hero-Worshipper 41
Phaethon 42
CONTENTS
The Just Man 43
Incomplete Poems from Manuscripts,
c. 1891–1892
Thou bright choregus 47
Like a white statue 47
The Vigil of Thaliard 48
Part Two
Baroda, c. 1898–1902
Complete Narrative Poems
Urvasie 65
Love and Death 111
Incomplete Narrative Poems, c. 1899–1902
Khaled of the Sea 145
Uloupie 163
Sonnets from Manuscripts, c. 1900–1901
O face that I have loved 177
I cannot equal 177
O letter dull andcold 178
My life is wasted 178
Because thy flame is spent 179
Thou didst mistake 179
Rose, I have loved 180
I have a hundred lives 180
Still there is something 181
I have a doubt 181
To weep becausea glorious sun 182
What is this talk 182
Short Poems from Manuscripts, c. 1900–1901
The Spring Child 185
A Doubt 186
The Nightingale 186
Euphrosyne 187
CONTENTS
A Thing Seen 187
Epitaph 188
To the Modern Priam 188
Song 188
Epigram 189
The Three Cries of Deiphobus 189
Perigone Prologuises 189
Since I have seenyour face 192
So that was why 193
World’s delight 194
Part Three
Baroda and Bengal, c. 1900–1909
Poems from Ahana and Other Poems
Invitation 201
Who 201
Miracles 203
Reminiscence 203
A Vision of Science 204
Immortal Love 206
A Tree 207
To the Sea 207
Revelation 209
Karma 209
Appeal 210
A Child’s Imagination 211
The Sea at Night 211
The Vedantin’s Prayer 212
Rebirth 213
The Triumph-Song of Trishuncou 215
Life and Death 216
Evening 216
Parabrahman 216
God 218
The Fearof Death 219
Seasons 219
CONTENTS
The Rishi 220
In the Moonlight 237
Poems fromManuscripts, c. 1900–1906
To the Boers 247
Vision 255
To the Ganges 256
Suddenly out from the wonderful East 260
On the Mountains 261
Part Four
Calcutta and Chandernagore 1907–1910
Satirical Poem Published in 1907
Reflections of Srinath Paul, Rai Bahadoor,
on the PresentDiscontents 267
Short Poems Published in 1909 and 1910
The Mother of Dreams 273
An Image 274
The Birth of Sin 275
Epiphany 279
To R. 280
Transiit, Non Periit 282
Poems fromManuscripts, c. 1909–1910
Perfect thy motion 285
A Dialogue 286
NarrativePoems Published in1910
Baji Prabhou 293
Chitrangada 309
Poems Writtenin 1910 and Published
in 1920–1921
The Rakshasas 321
Kama 324
The Mahatmas 325
CONTENTS
Part Five
Pondicherry, c. 1910–1920
Two Poems in Quantitative Hexameters
Ilion 333
Ahana 475
Poems fromManuscripts, c. 1912–1913
The Descentof Ahana 495
The Meditations of Mandavya 509
Incomplete Poems from Manuscripts,
c. 1912–1920
Thou who controllest 519
Sole inthe meadows of Thebes 519
O Will of God 520
The Tale of Nala [1] 521
The Tale of Nala [2] 525
Part Six
Baroda and Pondicherry, c. 1902–1936
Poems Past and Present
Musa Spiritus 531
Bride of the Fire 532
The Blue Bird 533
A God’s Labour 534
Hell and Heaven 538
Kamadeva 540
Life 541
One Day 542
Part Seven
Pondicherry, c. 1927–1947
Six Poems
The Bird of Fire 547