Sri Aurobindo

Collected Poems

SABCL - Volume 5

VI. Poems in New Metres
Fragments

The Fire-King and the Messenger

The Fire-King

O soul who com’st fire-mantled from the earth

Into the silence of the seven skies,

Art thou an heir of the spiritual birth?

Art thou an ancient guest of Paradise?

The Messenger

I am the Messenger of the human race,

I am the¹ Pioneer from death and night.

I am the nympholept of Beauty’s face,

I am the hunter of the immortal Light.

The Fire-King

What wearest² thou that wraps thee with its power

Protecting from the Guardians of the Way?

What wanderer born from the eternal Hour?

What fragment of the inconceivable Ray?

The Messenger

It is the fire of an awakened soul

Aspiring from death to reach Eternity,

The wings of sacrifice flaming to their goal,

The burning godhead of humanity.

The Fire-King

What seekst thou here, child of the transient ways?

Wouldst thou be free and still in deathless³ peace

Or gaze for ever on the Eternal’s face

Hushed in an incommunicable release?

The Messenger

I claim for men the peace that shall not fail,

I claim for earth the unsorrowing⁴ timeless bliss,

I seek God-strength for souls that suffer in hell,

God-light to fill the ignorant Abyss.

The Fire-King

Ascend no more with thy presumptuous prayer,

But safe return to the forsaken globe,

Wake not heaven’s Lightning from its slumber’s lair

To clothe thee with the anguish of its robe.

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.

¹ 2009 ed. CWSA, vol.2: a

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² 2009 ed. CWSA, vol.2: flame wearst

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³ 2009 ed. CWSA, vol.2: endless

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⁴ 2009 ed. CWSA, vol.2: unwounded

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