Canto 31Man the Enigma
Book 16. Part Seven - Pondicherry Circa 1927 – 1947
A deep enigma is the soul of man.
His conscious life obeys the Inconscient’s rule,
His need of joy is learned in sorrow’s school,
His heart is a chaos and an empyrean.
5His subtle Ignorance borrows Wisdom’s plan;
His mind is the Infinite’s sharp and narrow tool.
He wades through mud to reach the Wonderful,
And does what Matter must or Spirit can.
All powers in his living’s soil take root
10And claim from him their place and struggling right:
His ignorant creature mind crawling towards light
Is Nature’s fool and Godhead’s candidate,
A demigod and a demon and a brute,
The slave and the creator of his fate.