Apropos of Two Vast Negations — 18

Apropos of Two Vast Negations — 18

Built is the golden tower, flame-child born

It is transfigured Death who is announcing the birth of the flame-child, Agni-Kumār, the son of the body.

O Sun-Word, thou shalt raise the earth-soul to Light

And bring down God into the lives of men;

Earth shall be my work-chamber and my house,

My garden of life to plant a seed divine. ||154.10||

When all thy work in human time is done,

The mind of earth shall be a home of light,

The life of earth a tree growing towards heaven,

The body of earth a tabernacle of God. ||154.11||

In the heart of my creation’s mystery

I will enact the drama of thy soul,

Inscribe the long romance of Thee and Me. ||154.14||

I will possess in thee my universe,

Delight shall drop down from my nectarous moon,

My fragrance seize thee in the jasmine’s snare,

My eye shall look upon thee from the sun. ||154.26||

Thou shalt discover the one and quivering note

And cry, the harp of all my melodies,

And roll, my foaming wave in seas of love. ||154.29||

I will pour delight from thee as from a jar,

I will whirl thee as my chariot through the ways,

I will use thee as my sword and as my lyre,

I will play on thee my minstrelsies of thought. ||154.37||

For ever love, O beautiful slave of God! ||154.41||

O lasso of my rapture’s widening noose,

Become my cord of universal love. ||154.42||

The spirit ensnared by thee force to delight

Of creation’s oneness sweet and fathomless,

Compelled to embrace my myriad unities

And all my endless forms and divine souls. ||154.43||

O Mind, grow full of the eternal peace;

O Word, cry out the immortal litany:

Built is the golden tower, the flame-child born. ||154.44||

Let us scan these lines:

The Winds of Wonder