Sri Aurobindo

Collected Poems

CWSA.- Volume 2

Part Four. Calcutta and Chandernagore
Short Poems Published in 1909 and 1910

To R.

On Her Birthday

The repetition of thy gracious years

Brings back once more thy natal morn.

Upon the crest of youth thy life appears,–

A wave upborne.

Amid the hundreds thronging Ocean’s floor

A wave upon the crowded sea

With regular rhythm pushing towards the shore

Our life must be.

The power that moves it is the Ocean’s force

Invincible, eternal, free,

And by that impulse it pursues its course

Inevitably.

We, too, by the Eternal Might are led

To whatsoever goal He wills.

Our helm He grasps, our generous sail outspread

His strong breath fills.

Exulting in the grace and strength of youth

Pursue the Ocean’s distant bound,

Trusting the Pilot’s voice, the Master’s ruth

That rings us round.

Rejoice and fear not for the waves that swell,

The storms that thunder, winds that sweep;

Always our Captain holds the rudder well,

He does not sleep.

If in the trough of the enormous sea

Thou canst not find the sky for spray,

Fear never, for our Sun is there with thee

By night and day.

Even those who sink in the victorious flood,

Where do they sink? Into His breast.

He who to some gives victory, joy and good,

To some gives rest.

But thou, look to the radiant days that wait

Beyond the driving rain and storm.

I have seen the vision of a happier fate

Brightening thy form.

Confident of His grace, expect His will;

Let Him lead; though hidden be the bourne,

See Him in all that happens; that fulfil

For which thou wert born.

Earlier edition of this work: Sri Aurobindo Birth Century Library: Set in 30 volumes.- Volume 5.- Collected Poems.- Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Asram, 1972.- 625 p.