Opening Remarks
Savitri hears the cry of life and its surge towards power and lust and joy.
First inexpressible ecstasy
It called to the mountain secrecies of the soul
And the miracle of the never-dying fire,
It spoke to some first inexpressible ecstasy
Hidden in the creative beat of Life;
Out of the nether unseen deeps it tore
Its lure and magic of disordered bliss,
Into earth-light poured its maze of tangled charm
And heady draught of Nature’s primitive joy
And the fire and mystery of forbidden delight
Drunk from the world-libido’s bottomless well,
And the honey-sweet poison-wine of lust and death,
But dreamed a vintage of glory of life’s gods,
And felt as celestial rapture’s golden sting.
The Being of Life called to the hidden powers of the soul and the miracle of the undying fire of the soul. It communed with some inexpressible primal ecstasy hidden in the creative rhythms of life. It brought out of its unseen depths the magic and lure of some disordered bliss. It poured its charm on the draught of Nature’s primitive joy and the passion and mystery of forbidden joys. It drank the honey-sweet poison-wine of lust leading towards death from the world libido’s bottomless well yet mistook it to be a vintage of glory of the gods of life as if its sting was a celestial rapture.
Infinity of desire
The cycles of the infinity of desire
And the mystique that made an unrealised world
Wider than the known and closer than the unknown
In which hunt for ever the hounds of mind and life,
Tempted a deep dissatisfied urge within
To long for the unfulfilled and ever far
And make this life upon a limiting earth
A climb towards summits vanishing in the void,
A search for the glory of the impossible.
The cycles of life turn endlessly around desires and the unrealised dreams. It always sought for that which was yet afar but not far beyond and hunted it with a dissatisfied urge to fulfil its deep longings. It sought to make this life upon a limiting earth a climb towards summits whose far end seemed a void and a search for the glory of what was impossible for its unaided efforts.
Elysian memory
It dreamed of that which never has been known,
It grasped at that which never has been won,
It chased into an Elysian memory
The charms that flee from the heart’s soon lost delight;
It dared the force that slays, the joys that hurt,
The imaged shape of unaccomplished things
And the summons to a Circean transmuting dance
And passion’s tenancy of the courts of love
And the wild Beast’s ramp and romp with Beauty and Life.
It tried to capture in dream what it could not know and grasp that which it could never win. Chasing a heavenly memory and the charms that soon flee from the heart it dared to invoke the force that can slay and the joys that hurt. It imaged the shape of unaccomplished things and the summons to fatally attractive and misleading rhythms. It’s passion chose the courts of love to dwell and the wild beast’s crude ways with beauty and life.
Surge of opposite powers
It brought its cry and surge of opposite powers,
Its moments of the touch of luminous planes,
Its flame-ascensions and sky-pitched vast attempts,
Its fiery towers of dream built on the winds,
Its sinkings towards the darkness and the abyss,
Its honey of tenderness, its sharp wine of hate,
Its changes of sun and cloud, of laughter and tears,
Its bottomless danger-pits and swallowing gulfs,
Its fear and joy and ecstasy and despair,
Its occult wizardries, its simple lines
And great communions and uplifting moves,
Its faith in heaven, its intercourse with hell.
Life dallied with opposite powers and often dangerous extremes. In high moments of ascension through sacrifice and vast attempts, it touched the luminous planes. It built unstable towers on winds of passion and sank towards dark abysses. Its sweet honey of tenderness and the sharp wine of hate dwelt together in the same heart changing the moods into laughter and tears. It entered into bottomless pits of danger and gulfs that swallow completely. It experienced fear and joy and ecstasy and despair and moved through occult magical patterns and simple lines. It had moments of great communion and uplifting moves. It placed its faith in heaven yet mingled and interchanged its energies and forces with hell.
Not blunt
These powers were not blunt with the dead weight of earth,
They gave ambrosia’s taste and poison’s sting.
Unlike the inert earth these powers of life were far from dull. They gave to man the taste of ambrosia as well as the sting of poison.
Closing Remarks
The domain of life extends its empire from the heights of heaven to the abysses of hell. When caught in its current, we are carried to extremes swinging between opposite poles of existence.
