The Stranger and I

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The Stranger and I

Poem — An Invocation to The Master #228

And asked he, the stranger, “Why must thou pour
In this cascade of words that none canst hear 
Thought and meaning and feelings too subtle?
For none of these reach the ear of a mortal,
Like futile rain on barren sands are these,
Sans another to heed remain sad soliloquies!”

Replied I, “Oh not to pander a lay heart
Do I ply all the methods of my fervent art,
A need and impulse of the soul is this
To pen its deep musing and its reveries.
By these words a world I must build,
High minded halls wisdom-domed
And columns wrought by sublime light
More than ever in stone could be cast.
These I must fashion in my time here,
Pour out all concerns of human care.
For then all mortal parts will have been spent 
Leaving my soul ripe His Will to implement.
And in that endless silence shall be our colloquy 
Pondering the intricacies of His alchemy.”

Said he, “All means and methods that issue from Spirit
Exceed the range of the mortal limit,
Heed then His impulse though blind thou art
And by thy obedience play thy eternal part.”
Asked I, “Who art thou of such an occult sight,
For thy words betray a celestial height?”

Said he, “The One whom thou pursuest long
Through all thy words and thy heartfelt song,
Him the Alone, by him I arrive commissioned
To shore up the crevices that may be breached.
Seek then to rein in thyself more by the hour,
Linger not in this twilight bleak forever,
For low mannered it is even to the gods
Who wait an eternity for His summons,
And if to thee He doth strangely incline
Deem it then thy soul’s sole fortune.
In the daily span of dawn to dusk
Thou must battle at thy appointed task,
The meek and the lofty and the inane
Are all His means and His redeeming boon,
Spare nothing of thyself that He may be
Thy road and goal leading to His eternity.”

I drew then the priest of my muse and prayed,
“O Thou who art Agni in the fields earth-bound
Raise my deeds to lofty design of sacrifice,
Heighten my breath and all my thoughts
To birth the perfect gesture most immaculate,
Make my body the altar and my will the priest,
By all my becomings may thy Yagña be complete,
And by thy agency the mortal I the Divine shall meet.”