The Secret Splendour

(Symbolic view of Purbal from Matheran)

From the stunned rapture of a single rock

 Thrust forward by a cleft in the mountain mood

 Two purple peaks wake into our night and day,

One mastering the blind hours, one mothering

The moments that uplift their cry to the Vast.

Behind them stretches breakless and aloof—

Mile on straight mile—the unseizable sovereignty

Of force that sheds all feature, love that wears

 No face for the deep prayer of the valley's heart—

Sheer walls upon whose granite godhead crumble

The ages of mankind—a trackless quiet

Where light looks inward and the world is lost!

Out of that mystery sprang your passionate Word,

O sweet companion-crests—two syllables

Of beauty softening down to our myriad dream

The timeless steep and silence of the One.

6.11.42

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