The Miracle of Birth
I saw my soul a traveller through Time;
From life to life the cosmic ways it trod,
Obscure in the depths and on the heights sublime,
Evolving from the worm into the god.
A spark of the eternal Fire, it came
To build a house in Matter for the Unborn.
The inconscient sunless Night received the flame,
In the brute seed of things dumb and forlorn
Life stirred and Thought outlined a gleaming shape
Till on the stark inanimate earth could move,
Born to somnambulist Nature in her sleep,
A thinking creature who can hope and love.
Still by slow steps the miracle goes on,
The Immortal's gradual birth mid mire and stone.
Part VII : Pondicherry (Circa 1927-1947) > Sonnets from Manuscripts (Circa 1934-1947)
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
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In the brute seed of things dumb and forlorn
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Life stirred and Thought outlined a gleaming shape
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Till on the stark inanimate earth could move,
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Born to somnambulist Nature in her sleep
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Born to somnambulist Nature in her sleep,
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A thinking creature who can hope and love.
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Still by slow steps the miracle goes on,
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The Immortal's gradual birth mid mire and stone.
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NOTES FROM EDITOR
27 September 1939, revised 29 September. Six handwritten manuscripts, the second entitled “The Divine Mystery”, the third “The Divine Miracle-Play”, and the fourth and fifth “The Miracle-Play”.
Manuscript