Together drunk of many an alien dawn,
And plucked the fruit of many an alien sky.
Ah, fickle friend, must I, who yesterday
Dreamed forwards to long, undimmed ecstasy,
Henceforward dream, because thou wilt not stay,
Backward to transient pleasure and to thee?
I give thee back thy false, ephemeral vow;
But, O beloved comrade, ere we part,
Upon my mournful eyelids and my brow
Kiss me who hold thine image in my heart.
As of light that is poignant and strongO silence my lips with a kiss,My lips that are weary of song!Shelter my soul, O my love!My soul is bent low with the painAnd the burden of love, like the graceOf a flower that is smitten with rain:O shelter my soul from thy face!
Nor like lotus-leaves enfold youIn the tangles of my tresses.Fairy fancies, fly awayTo the white cloud-wildernesses,Fly away!Nay, no longer ye may lingerWith your laughter-lighted faces,Now I am a thought-worn singerIn life’s high and lonely places.Fairy fancies, fly away,To bright wind-inwoven spaces,Fly away!
A golden storm of glittering sheaves,Of fair and frail and fluttering leaves,The wild wind blows in a cloud.Hark to a voice that is callingTo my heart in the voice of the wind:My heart is weary and sad and alone,For its dreams like the fluttering leaves have gone,And why should I stay behind?
In my life’s unclouded morn,In my lambent sky of love,May your growing glory proveSacred to your consecration,To my heart and to my nation.Sun of victory, may you beSun of song and liberty.PadmajaLotus-maiden, you who claimAll the sweetness of your name,Lakshmi, fortune’s queen, defend you,Lotus-born like you, and send youBalmy moons of love to bless you,Gentle…
Soul-deep in visions that poppy-like sprang;And spirits of Truth were the birds that sang,And spirits of Love were the stars that glowed,And spirits of Peace were the streams that flowedIn that magical wood in the land of sleep.Lone in the light of that magical grove,I felt the stars of the spirits of LoveGather and gleam…
Nor spring deny their bright, appointed beautyTo lotus blossom and ashoka leaf.Nay, do not pine, tho’ life be dark with trouble,Time will not pause or tarry on his way;To-day that seems so long, so strange, so bitter,Will soon be some forgotten yesterday.Nay, do not weep; new hopes, new dreams, new faces,The unspent joy of all…
