Sri Aurobindo

Collected Poems

SABCL - Volume 5

II. Sonnets
1930–1950

The Body

This body which was once my universe,

Is now a pittance carried by the soul,–

Its Titan’s motion bears this scanty purse,

Pacing through vastness to a vaster goal.

Too small was it to meet the giant need

That only infinitude can satisfy:

He keeps it still, for in the folds is hid

His secret passport to eternity.

In his front an endless Time and Space deploy

The landscape of their golden happenings;

His heart is filled with sweet and violent joy,

His mind is upon great and distant things.

How grown with all the world conterminous

Is the little dweller in this narrow house!

Later edition of this work: The Complete Works of Sri Aurobindo.- Set in 37 volumes.- Volume 2.- Collected Poems.- Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram, 2009.- 751 p.