Sri Aurobindo

Collected Poems

CWSA.- Volume 2

Part Two. Baroda
Sonnets from Manuscripts, c. 1900 – 1901

O face that I have loved

O face that I have loved until no face

Beneath the quiet heavens¹ such glory wear,

They say you are not beautiful,– no snare

Of twilight in the changing mysticness

Or deep enhaloed secrecy of hair,

Soft largeness in the eyes I dare not kiss!

Unreal all your bosom’s dreadful bliss.

Too narrow are your brows they say to bear

The temple of vast beauty in its span

Or chaste cold bosom to house fierily

Beauty that maddens all the heart of man.

I know not; this I know that utterly

My soul is by some magic curls surprised,

Some glances have my heart immortalized².

Earlier edition of this work: Sri Aurobindo Birth Century Library: Set in 30 volumes.- Volume 27.- Supplement.- Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Asram, 1972.- 511 p.

¹ 1972 ed. SABCL, vol.27: heaven

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² 1972 ed. SABCL, vol.27: immortalised

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