Canto 8To R.
Book 4. Part Four - Calcutta and Chandernagore 1907 – 1910
Calcutta and Chandernagore, 1907–1910
The Friend of Man helps him with life and death
Until he knows. Then, freed from mortal breath,
Grief, pain, resentment, terror pass away.
5He feels the joy of the immortal play;
He has the silence and the unflinching force,
He knows the oneness and the eternal course.
He too is Rudra and thunder and the Fire,
He Shiva and the white Light no shadows tire,
10The Strength that rides abroad on Time’s wide wings,
The Calm in the heart of all immortal things.
To R.
On Her Birthday
The repetition of thy gracious years
15Brings back once more thy natal morn.
Upon the crest of youth thy life appears, —
A wave upborne.
Amid the hundreds thronging Ocean’s floor
A wave upon the crowded sea
20With regular rhythm pushing towards the shore
Our life must be.
The power that moves it is the Ocean’s force
Invincible, eternal, free,
And by that impulse it pursues its course
25Inevitably.
We, too, by the Eternal Might are led
To whatsoever goal He wills.
Our helm He grasps, our generous sail outspread
His strong breath fills.
30Short Poems
Exulting in the grace and strength of youth
Pursue the Ocean’s distant bound,
Trusting the Pilot’s voice, the Master’s ruth
That rings us round.
35Rejoice and fear not for the waves that swell,
The storms that thunder, winds that sweep;
Always our Captain holds the rudder well,
He does not sleep.
If in the trough of the enormous sea
40Thou canst not find the sky for spray,
Fear never, for our Sun is there with thee
By night and day.
Even those who sink in the victorious flood,
Where do they sink? Into His breast.
45He who to some gives victory, joy and good,
To some gives rest.
But thou, look to the radiant days that wait
Beyond the driving rain and storm.
I have seen the vision of a happier fate
50Brightening thy form.
Confident of His grace, expect His will;
Let Him lead; though hidden be the bourne,
See Him in all that happens; that fulfil
For which thou wert born.