Canto 7Life
Book 15. Part Six - Baroda and Pondicherry Circa 1902 – 1936
Mystic daughter of Delight,
Life, thou ecstasy,
Let the radius of thy flight
Be eternity.
5On thy wings thou bearest high
Glory and disdain,
Godhead and mortality,
Ecstasy and pain.
Take me in thy bold embrace
10Without weak reserve,
Body dire and unveiled face;
Faint not, Life, nor swerve.
All thy bliss I would explore,
All thy tyranny.
15Cruel like the lion’s roar,
Sweet like springtide be.
Like a Titan I would take,
Like a God enjoy,
Like a man contend and make,
20Revel like a boy.
More I will not ask of thee,
Nor my fate would choose;
King or conquered let me be,
Vanquish, Life, or lose.
25Even in rags I am a god;
Fallen, I am divine;
High I triumph when down-trod,
Long I live when slain.