The Sword of Song

PENTECOST 35 To—what abyss’s dizzy brink ? And fall ! And I have ceased to think ! That is, have conquered and made still Mind’s lower powers by utter Will. It may be that pure Nought will fail Quite to assuage the needs of thought ; But—who can tell me whether Nought Untried, will or will not avail ? Aum ! Let us meditate aright50 On that adorable One Light, Divine Savitri ! So may She Illume our minds ! So mote it be ! I find some folks think me (for one) So great a fool that I disclaim Indeed Jehovah’s hate for shame That man to-day should not be weaned Of worshipping so foul a fiend In presence of the living Sun, And yet replace him oiled and cleaned By the Egyptian Pantheon, The same thing by another name. Thus when of late Egyptian Gods Evoked ecstatic periods In verse of mine, you thought I praised Or worshipped them—I stand amazed. I merely wished to chant in verse Some aspects of the Universe, Summed up these subtle forces finely, And sang of them (I think divinely) In name and form : a fault perhaps— Reviewers are such funny chaps ! I think that ordinary folk, Though, understood the things I spoke. For Gods, and devils too, I find Are merely modes of my own mind ! The poet needs enthusiasm ! Vese-making is a sort of spasm, Degeneration of the mind, And things of that unpleasant kind. 515 520 525 530 535 540 545 Nothing. The Apotheosis of Realism and Idealism alike Gayatri. Is “The Soul of Osiris” a Hymn Book ? How verse is written. Prayer.