Canto 47In the Battle
Book 16. Part Seven - Pondicherry Circa 1927 – 1947
Pondicherry, c. 1927–1947
A Dream of Surreal Science
One dreamed and saw a gland write Hamlet, drink
At the Mermaid, capture immortality;
5A committee of hormones on the Aegean’s brink
Composed the Iliad and the Odyssey.
A thyroid, meditating almost nude
Under the Bo-tree, saw the eternal Light
And, rising from its mighty solitude,
10Spoke of the Wheel and eightfold Path all right.
A brain by a disordered stomach driven
Thundered through Europe, conquered, ruled and fell,
From St Helena went, perhaps, to Heaven.
Thus wagged on the surreal world, until
15A scientist played with atoms and blew out
The universe before God had time to shout.
In the Battle
Often, in the slow ages’ wide retreat
On Life’s long bridge through Time’s enormous sea,
20I have accepted death and borne defeat
If by my fall some gain were clutched for Thee.
To this world’s inconscient Power Thou hast given the right
To oppose the shining passage of my soul:
She levies on each step the tax of Night.
25Doom, her unjust accountant, keeps the roll.
Around my way the Titan forces press;
This earth is theirs, they hold the days in fee,
I am full of wounds and the fight merciless:
Is it not yet Thy hour of victory?
30Even as Thou wilt! What still to Fate Thou owest,
O Ancient of the worlds, Thou knowest, Thou knowest.