Canto 71The End?

Book 16. Part Seven - Pondicherry Circa 1927 – 1947

Lyrical Poems

And the laughter and the rapture of God’s bliss.

The Mother of God is mother of our souls;

We are the partners of his birth in Time,

5Inheritors we share his eternity.

The End?

Is this the end of all that we have been,

And all we did or dreamed, —

A name unremembered and a form undone, —

10Is this the end?

A body rotting under a slab of stone

Or turned to ash in fire,

A mind dissolved, lost its forgotten thoughts, —

Is this the end?

15Our little hours that were and are no more,

Our passions once so high

Dying mocked by the still earth and calm sunshine, —

Is this the end?

Our yearnings for the human Godward climb

20Passing to other hearts

Deceived, while sinks towards death and hell the world, —

Is this the end?

Fallen is the harp; shattered it lies and mute;

Is the unseen player dead?

25Because the tree is felled where the bird sang,

Must the song too hush?

One in the mind who planned and willed and thought,

Worked to reshape earth’s fate,

One in the heart who loved and yearned and hoped,

30Does he too end?