Swami Vivekananda

Behold, the dark clouds melt away,

So like a gloomy pall above the earth!Before thy magic touch, the worldAwakes. The birds in chorus sing.The flowers raise their star-like crowns-Dew-set, and wave thee welcome fair.The lakes are opening wide in loveTheir hundred thousand lotus-eyesTo welcome thee, with all their depth.All hail to thee, thou Lord of Light!A welcome new to thee, today,O…

Requiescat In Pace

(Written in memoriam to J. J. Goodwin, August,1898.)Speed forth, O Soul! upon thy star-strewn path;Speed, blissful one! where thought is ever free,Where time and space no longer mist the view,Eternal peace and blessings be with thee!Thy service true, complete thy sacrifice,Thy home the heart of love transcendent find;Remembrance sweet, that kills all space and time,Like…

The wounded snake its hood unfurls,

The desert air resounds the callsOf heart-struck lion’s rage.The cloud puts forth it deluge strengthWhen lightning cleaves its breast,When the soul is stirred to its in most depthGreat ones unfold their best.Let eyes grow dim and heart grow faint,And friendship fail and love betray,Let Fate its hundred horrors send,And clotted darkness block the way.All nature…

Perchance a prophet thou-

The depths where Mother hidesHer silent failless bolts!Perchance the child had glimpseOf shades, behind the scenes,With eager eyes and strained,Quivering forms-readyTo jump in front and beEvents, resistless, strong.Who knows but Mother, how,And where, and when, they come?Perchance the shining sageSaw more than he could tell;Who knows, what soul, and when,The Mother makes Her throne?What law…

Behold, it comes in might,

The light that is in darkness,The shade in dazzling light.It is joy that never spoke,And grief unfelt, profound,Immortal life unlived,Eternal death unmourned.It is not joy nor sorrow,But that which is between,It is not noght nor morrow,But that which joins them in.It is sweet rest in music;And pause in sacred art;The silence between speaking;Between two fits…

Wake up the note! the song that had its birth

In mountain caves and glades of forest deep,Whose calm no sigh for lust or wealth or fameCould ever dare to break; where rolled the streamOf knowledge, truth, and bliss that follows both.Sing high that note, Sannyasin bold! Say—‘Om Tat Sat, Om! ‘Strike off thy fetters! Bonds that bind thee down,Of shining gold, or darker, baser…

In blue sky floats a multitude of clouds –

An orange sun, about to say farewell,Touches the massed cloud-shapes with streaks of red.The wind blows as it lists, a hurricaneNow carving shapes, now breaking them apart:Fancies, colours, forms, inert creations –A myriad scenes, though real, yet fantastic.There light clouds spread, heaping up spun cotton;See next a huge snake, then a strong lion;Again, behold a…