Collected Poems - Sri Aurobindo Ashram

Metrical Experiments 651
O Life, thy breath is but a cry
O Life, thy breath is but a cry to the Light
Immortal, whence has come thy swift delight,
Thy grasp.
All things in vain thy hands seize;
Earth’s music fails, the notes cease
Or rasp.
Aloud thou callst to blind Fate,
“Remove the bar, the gold gate
Unhasp.”
But never hast thou the goal yet of thy race
Neared, nor thrilled with the ineffable Face,
The clasp.
Vast-winged the wind ran
Vast-winged the wind ran, violent, black-cowled the waves
O’er-topped with fierce green eyes the deck,
Huge heads upraised.
Death-hunted, wound-weary, groaned like a whipped beast
the ship,
Shrank, cowered, sobbed, each blow like Fate’s
Despairing felt.