Collected Poems - Sri Aurobindo Ashram

704 Collected Poems
those of 1909, it seems likely that it was written close to the date of
the publication of that book. Quite possibly it was written especially
for the book in 1909. The Latin title means: “He has gone beyond, he
has not perished.”
Poems from Manuscripts, circa 1909 – 1910
Perfect thy motion. No title in the manuscript. Circa 1909. The single
manuscript text of this poem is found in a notebook that Sri Aurobindo
used for the dramatic version of “The Birth of Sin” (see the previous
section) and for the dialogue that follows. All these poems are in the
handwriting of the 1909 – 10 period.
A Dialogue. No title in the manuscript. Circa 1909. Written in the same
notebook and in the same handwriting as “Perfect thy motion” and
the dramatic version of “The Birth of Sin”. Unlike that piece, it is not
structured as a play, and so has been printed here as a dramatic poem.
Narrative Poems Published in 1910
Baji Prabhou. Circa 1904 – 9. Sri Aurobindo wrote that this work
was “conceived and written in Bengal during the period of political
activity”. This leaves the precise date of its composition unclear. Sri
Aurobindo went to Bengal and openly joined the national movement
in February 1906, but he had been active behind the scenes for some
years before that. A partial draft of Baji Prabhou is found in a notebook
he used from around 1902 to around 1910. The handwriting
of this draft is that of the later years in Baroda (1904 – 6), and it is
probable the poem was written during that period. (Sri Aurobindo
spent a good deal of time in Bengal during these years.) Baji Prabhou
was published for the first time in three issues of the Karmayogin: 19
February, 26 February and 5 March 1910. At some point he revised
the first instalment of the Karmayogin text, but did not make use
of this revision subsequently. In 1922 he published the Karmayogin
text (with new, very light, revision) at the Modern Press, Pondicherry.
This text became the basis of a further revised version published in
Collected Poems and Plays in 1942. This 1942 version is the basis of
the present text. (In the version published in Collected Poems [1972],