Part 6

O be my soul a mirror clear, That I may see Thee there; Dwell in my thought, my speech, my life, Making them glad and fair.

Take Thou this body, O my Christ, Dwell as its soul within; To be an instant separate I count a deadly sin.

_Nārāyan Vāman Tilak._

PEACE

It is the hour of sunset, and the sky Is robed in purple, as a lovely bride With ruby lips and veil thrown half aside, Waiting for her sweet lord with longing eye. The air is fresh and fragrant, and the sea In smiling joy its boundless bosom heaves, With ringing music of the rising waves; And far from here its weary whisper leaves The broken echo of a world that raves; Its murmur hushed in new-born notes of glee.

* * * * *

Lulled by the laughter of the sky and earth, The heart forgets her sorrow and suspends Her breath in silent rapture and descends Upon the soul the vision of its birth. Immeasurable waters! and the sky Immeasurable! and this wondrous light In rainbow smiles of India, all around-- Resting and rocking and rolling in delight, And swelling with the mirth of many a sound That fills the ocean’s ears unceasingly.

* * * * *

And now the mantle of approaching night Falls gently o’er the drowsy eyes of day; The roseate glow of evening melts away, Softly beyond the western waves, to white. Now o’er the earth a veil of mystery In silver silence all around is spread; And not a sound is heard or sight is seen Except the lingering echoes hither led Of boatmen’s shouts, and distant lights between The mingling bosoms of the sky and sea.

* * * * *

The moon hath risen, and the stars appear, And heaven is watching with the eyes of light; And in my heart a newer hope is bright With varied splendours of the atmosphere. The mind is hushed and all its motions cease Of wayward fancy and unquiet thought; And in the happy island of the soul Awakes a joy in radiance unforgot-- Which o’er the world’s tumultuous uncontrol Doth smile, and softly whisper, “Here is Peace!”

_Nanikram Vasanmal Thadani._

FOOTNOTES:

[1] The new leaves are red, _are_ the rosy kisses. Also, _palas_ and pomegranate both have red blossoms.

[2] This poem deliberately takes off from the loveliest of all Bengali popular songs, Ramprasad’s “This day will surely pass, this day will pass” (see _Bengali Religious Lyrics_, Thompson and Spencer, Oxford University Press).

[3] India has six seasons to our four.

[4] Urvasi, in older (_i.e._ Sanskrit) mythology, is a famous courtesan and dancing-girl at the court of Indra, King of the Gods. Her adventures were many; she was often sent to lure sages aside from their devotions, lest they obtained super-divine powers and threatened the dominion of the Gods (see stanza 4). But in Tagore’s poem she is very much more than her legendary character. The poem is a tangle--Indian mythology, modern science, European romance. She is the cosmic spirit of life, in the mazes of its eternal dance; she is Beauty dissociated from all human relationships; she is that world-enchanting Love which (though not in Dante’s sense) “moves the sun and other stars,” is Lucretius’s _hominum divumque voluptas, Alma Venus_, is Swinburne’s “perilous goddess,” “sea-foam-born.”

I have adopted a quasi-metrical form which I hope will indicate the general outline of the stanza in which this magnificent ode is written.

[5] When the Gods churned the Ocean, to recover the lost nectar of immortality, Urvasi first appeared, one of many good and bad things that came to light. With the nectar came out poison, which threatened the life of all creatures, till Siva drank it to save the worlds. Tagore has invented Urvasi’s responsibility for the nectar and poison being brought forth; at any rate, I know of no other authority for line 4 of this stanza.

[6] A jasmine.

[7] In Sanskrit mythology, heaven, the atmosphere, and earth; in later mythology, generally heaven, earth, and the underworld.

[8] In Indian mythology, there are Mounts of Sunrise and Sunsetting.

[9] From the _Mādhabī_.

[10] Sanskrit Urvasī.

[11] _I.e._ the _vīnā_, the lute.

[12] From the _Kanyādhūp_.

[13] From the _Patralekha_.

[14] From the _Patralekha_.

[15] “Spring fifth” is the fifth day of the light fortnight of the month of Māgh, when Sarasvati, the goddess of letters and wisdom, who loves the _vīnā_, lute, is worshipped. The month of Māgh corresponds to January-February.

[16] I.e. the goddess who carries the _vīnā_, or lute, in her hand.

[17] The thousand-headed snake of Heaven.

[18] _Seli_, or the small round string made of black wool that Guru Nanak used to wear at times.

[19] _Samādhi_ is the mystic’s “ecstasy,” in which all consciousness of the material world is lost and the soul is face to face with the Real.