Canto 2Bride of the Fire

Book 15. Part Six - Baroda and Pondicherry Circa 1902 – 1936

Baroda and Pondicherry, c. 1902–1936

All make tranquil, all make free.

Let my heart-beats measure the footsteps of God

As He comes from His timeless infinity

5To build in their rapture His burning abode.

Weave from my life His poem of days,

His calm pure dawns and His noons of force.

My acts for the grooves of His chariot-race,

My thoughts for the tramp of His great steeds’ course!

10Bride of the Fire

Bride of the Fire, clasp me now close, —

Bride of the Fire!

I have shed the bloom of the earthly rose,

I have slain desire.

15Beauty of the Light, surround my life, —

Beauty of the Light!

I have sacrificed longing and parted from grief,

I can bear thy delight.

Image of ecstasy, thrill and enlace, —

20Image of bliss!

I would see only thy marvellous face,

Feel only thy kiss.

Voice of Infinity, sound in my heart, —

Call of the One!

25Stamp there thy radiance, never to part,

O living Sun.