Life

A poem by Sri Aurobindo


Life

Mystic Miracle, daughter of Delight,
    Life, thou ecstasy,
Let the radius of thy flight
    Be eternity.

On thy wings thou bearest high
    Glory and disdain,
Godhead and mortality,
    Ecstasy and pain.

Take me in thy wild embrace
    Without weak reserve
Body dire and unveiled face;
    Faint not, Life, nor swerve.

All thy bliss I would explore,
    All thy tyranny.
Cruel like the lion's roar,
    Sweet like springtide be.

Like a Titan I would take,
    Like a God enjoy,
Like a man contend and make,
    Revel like a boy.

More I will not ask of thee,
    Nor my fate would choose;
King or conquered let me be,
    Live or lose.

Even in rags I am a god;
    Fallen, I am divine;
High I triumph when down-trod,
    Long I live when slain.

Life

Mystic daughter of Delight,
    Life, thou ecstasy,
Let the radius of thy flight
    Be eternity.

On thy wings thou bearest high
    Glory and disdain,
Godhead and mortality,
    Ecstasy and pain.

Take me in thy bold embrace
    Without weak reserve,
Body dire and unveiled face;
    Faint not, Life, nor swerve.

All thy bliss I would explore,
    All thy tyranny.
Cruel like the lion's roar,
    Sweet like springtide be.

Like a Titan I would take,
    Like a God enjoy,
Like a man contend and make,
    Revel like a boy.

More I will not ask of thee,
    Nor my fate would choose;
King or conquered let me be,
    Vanquish, Life, or lose.

Even in rags I am a god;
    Fallen, I am divine;
High I triumph when down-trod,
    Long I live when slain.



Part VI : Baroda and Pondicherry (Circa 1902-1936) > Poems Past and Present   




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/life.txt CHANGED
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
1
1
  Life
2
- Mystic Miracle, daughter of Delight,
2
+ Mystic daughter of Delight,
3
3
  Life, thou ecstasy,
4
4
  Let the radius of thy flight
5
5
  Be eternity.
@@ -7,8 +7,8 @@ On thy wings thou bearest high
7
7
  Glory and disdain,
8
8
  Godhead and mortality,
9
9
  Ecstasy and pain.
10
- Take me in thy wild embrace
11
- Without weak reserve
10
+ Take me in thy bold embrace
11
+ Without weak reserve,
12
12
  Body dire and unveiled face;
13
13
  Faint not, Life, nor swerve.
14
14
  All thy bliss I would explore,
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ Revel like a boy.
22
22
  More I will not ask of thee,
23
23
  Nor my fate would choose;
24
24
  King or conquered let me be,
25
- Live or lose.
25
+ Vanquish, Life, or lose.
26
26
  Even in rags I am a god;
27
27
  Fallen, I am divine;
28
28
  High I triumph when down-trod,

NOTES FROM EDITOR

Circa 1913. The earliest surviving drafts of this poem and the previous one are found in the notebook that contains “The Meditations of Mandavya” (see above, Part Five), the opening of which is dated 1913. In 1932 they were typed out and fourteen years later included in Poems Past and Present. There is one handwritten and one typed manuscript.