Descent

A poem by Sri Aurobindo


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The Future Poetry > On Quantitative Metre



Sapphics. But the second-foot spondee is very usually replaced by a trochee, the final trochee sometimes by a spondee; an antibacchius, cretic or molossus can replace the dactyl. In the fifteenth line elision is used; in a sapphic line there can be only one dactyl.

The Future Poetry > Descent

Descent

All my cells thrill swept by a surge of splendour,
Soul and body stir with a mighty rapture,
Light and still more light like an ocean billows
            Over me, round me.

Rigid, stonelike, fixed like a hill or statue,
Vast my body feels and upbears the world's weight;
Dire the large descent of the Godhead enters
            Limbs that are mortal.

Voiceless, thronged, Infinity crowds upon me;
Presses down a glory of power eternal;
Mind and heart grow one with the cosmic wideness;
            Stilled are earth's murmurs.

Swiftly, swiftly crossing the golden spaces
Knowledge leaps, a torrent of rapid lightnings;
Thoughts that left the Ineffable's flaming mansions,
            Blaze in my spirit.

Slow the heart-beats' rhythm like a giant hammer's;
Missioned voices drive to me from God's doorway
Words that live not save upon Nature's summits,
            Ecstasy's chariots.

All the world is changed to a single oneness;
Souls undying, infinite forces, meeting,
Join in God-dance weaving a seamless Nature,
            Rhythm of the Deathless.

Mind and heart and body, one harp of being,
Cry that anthem, finding the notes eternal,—
Light and might and bliss and immortal wisdom
            Clasping for ever.



Part VII : Pondicherry (Circa 1927-1947) > Poems Published in On Quantitative Metre   




How to read the color-coded changes below? 1. SABCL version : lines with any changes & specific changes 2. CWSA version : lines with any changes & specific changes

Sri-Aurobindo/books/collected-poems/descent.txt CHANGED
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ All my cells thrill swept by a surge of splendour,
3
3
  Soul and body stir with a mighty rapture,
4
4
  Light and still more light like an ocean billows
5
5
  Over me, round me.
6
- Rigid, stone-like, fixed like a hill or statue,
6
+ Rigid, stonelike, fixed like a hill or statue,
7
7
  Vast my body feels and upbears the world's weight;
8
8
  Dire the large descent of the Godhead enters
9
9
  Limbs that are mortal.

NOTES FROM EDITOR

  1. A single handwritten manuscript precedes the On Quantitative Metre revision work.


Manuscript