Tribute to Amrita on his Birth Centenary

PART TWO

AMRITA

The Creator in His dreaming has created

this immortal thing in creation,

Figuring as a common creature,

forgetful of his Self:

A mystic reason makes Him hide

His own form and nature,

Ever at labour in working out

the Impossible:

To transfigure Nature, to establish the

Transcendent here on the bosom of material Earth,

To feed the divine sacrificial Fire

with this human body,

With this bounded frame.

Lo, the timeless hero worker

with his flaming faith,

Indifferent to the rude impacts of Reality,

Dreaming of the victorious Mother's

wonder dreams,

Shaping in his heart of hearts

the golden garden of Paradise —

A faultless, sleepless, pure

self-dedication

Has built this life into a piece of

IMMORTALITY.

Translated from the Bengali

by NOLINI.

September 19, 1962