Collected Poems - Sri Aurobindo Ashram

Uloupie 171
Ere all is over; for the long round of things
Brings a changed soul in man to old unaltered
Places, and objects cared for once; then, then
We touching hands in the old way, yet changed,
Shall wonder in each other’s eyes to find
Strange kindlings and the buried deeps of love.”
She ended and Urjoona for a moment
Beheld vast Aryavertha as if mapped
Before him, rivers, heaven-invading hills
And cities ancient as their skies; then turned
And drawing to his bosom Chitrangada
With his calm strength surrounding her replied:
“This may be; yet, O woman, O delight,
Remember to rejoice! Flowers die, beloved,
To live again; therefore hold fast to love,
Hold fast the blooming of thy life in love.
The soul’s majestic progress moulding doom
Is with the frailest flower helped that blows
In frankness. Therefore is the woman’s part
Nearest divine, who to one motion keeps
And like the fixed immortal planets’ round
Is constant to herself in him she loves.
Nor though fate call me hence, have I in vain
Loved thee, young virgin of the hills, and snared
Thy feet with kisses; though my soul from thee
Adventure journeying like a star the void, —
As ’tis our spirit’s fate ever to roam
Seeking bright portions of ourself, which found
The strong heart cherishes until his close.
Relinquish nothing grasped; who yieldeth aught
To fate or weakness, misses the great goal; —
So have I planted thee within my heart,
O tender beauty, and shall not lightly lose.
Though years divide us and the slow upgrowth
Of overlaying thoughts submerge the peace,
The sweet and mutual self — yet the old joy
Lives like Valmekie in his mound, — the sage,