Short Poems

Family treasures
Tarnish in the wicker trunk
I carry on board.

To-day my children came to me:
“Sidney Drew's dead!”
They said.

I hope that Sidney Drew can see,
Even from far eternity
Beyond these pallid April skies,
The tribute of my children's eyes.

A machine gun,
the low moon,
round and resounding

He who hath deemed another and himself as the same,
He who hath deemed the day (of joy) and the night (of sorrow) to be alike,
He whose mind hath become free from duality,
He, and he alone, hath seen the Lord of the chiefest of the gods.

Storm
Wild one,
Take me in your whirl,
In your giddy reel,
In your shot-like leaps and flights.
Hear me call—stop and hear.
I know you, blusterer; I know you, wild one—
I know your mysterious call.

A grain adown the velvet strolled—Glory!
No purer pearl could be—Glory!
The pearl against a ruby rolled—Glory!
Most beautiful to see—Glory!
Big is the pearl by ruby's side—Glory!
Well for the bridegroom with his bride—Glory!

Quæ legis causa nupsit tibi Lælia, Quinte,
Uxorem hanc poteris dicere legitimam.

I wandered out this moonlight night,
I think that some one hurried by,
But ah, the clouds obscured the light …
I only heard a wind-blown sigh!

Confuse me not with impious things;
But wait for the appointed hour
When you shall see your vanished flower
Reborn resplendent in my wings!

O Soul, practise that meditation.
Whereby thy million pains are ended, all sins done away.
Arouse thee, wake and search: open thine eyes and see thyself.
When the crow becomes a swan, tis by the power of the Name.
Keep the soul steadfast in meditation, the pains of the three qualities will be loosed.
Tell the beads of thought within the heart, thus every grief will flee away.
Perfect Bhagti none can fathom, wondrous, pure and free from guile.
O Charan Das, Sukdeva has said, such make their abode in the Eternal City.