7 - - ex t . ■- \ \ rt^"*' A • V, > SNOW-BIRDS MACMILLAN AND CO., Limited LONDON • BOMBAY • CALCUTTA • IMADRAS MELBOURNE THE MACMILLAN COMPANY NEW YORK • BOSTON • CHICAGO DALLAS • SAN FRANCISCO THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd. TORONTO , *, ,\ . » > ' SNOW-BIRDS BY ^Ri ANANDA ACHARYA MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON 1919 COPYRIGHT f-r" "One Bird He has entered into this together-entering- expanse ; He well-contemplates all, this born-being; Him have I seen nigh at hand with matured prayer ; Him the Word nourishes. He also nourishes the Word." A'/ 66 35- The Wishing-Tree 67 36. Under the Bower of Night 69 37- Dying Eyes .... 71 38. Buds and Blossoms 73 39- The Robber of Tears 75 40. Pyrola 77 41. Allah's Ways .... 79 42. The Garland of Everlastings . 82 43- Sea Treasures .... 84 44. Eternal Morning 86 45- New Life 88 46. The Pole-Star 89 47- The Fall of the Heavens. 90 SNOW-BIRDS XV 48. In the Light of the Under-Ocean 92 49. The Daughter of King Ja 94 50- Little Fog ..... 96 51- Only a Bird .... 99 52- Wish me a Song .... TOO 53- Wilt thou not come } 102 54. Eternal Remembrance 104 55- To-morrow's Blossoms . 106 56. Under the Rainuow-Arch of Teaks 107 57- The Nest ..... 109 58. The Rainbow Star of the South I I I 59- Sea-Clouds 113 60. Love-Offerings .... 115 61. Unuttered Words 116 62. Silence ..... 118 ^3- The Golden Lotus 119 64. Home ...... 121 65- New Grapes .... 123 66. The Cloud ..... 124 67. The Gardener .... 126 68. The Listener .... 128 69. To the Forest .... 130 70. Thus spake the Mother 132 71- The Psalm of Night . 133 72. Love! 134 73- Waiting 136 74- The Lotus 138 XVI SNOW-BIRDS 75- 76. 77- 78. 79- 80. 81. 82. 83. 84. 85- 86. 87. 88. 89. 90. 91. 92. 93- 94. 95- 96. 97- The Raven ..... Teach me a Prayer . To the Mother of Ambrosial Rains The Bridge of Life . A New Star .... The Veil ..... A Message ..... Ode on the Rishis^ the Darsanikas AND the SaNNYASINS OF InDIA O Man! .... Life's Seasons Life's Web .... Beside the Parent Waters The Pilgrim To AN Ancient Birch-Tree To A Nameless Winter Brook On reading an Arabic Inscription in A Shrine outside the Town of Baghdad, dated 912 Hejira . The Cry of Autumn Aspens O Friends ! . Under the Midnight Sky . My Death ..... Ye who are Teachers and Leaders Thou canst be all this Last Words .... The Original Consciousness 141 144 146 148 150 152 154 156 159 166 169 172 175 177 179 182 185 187 190 193 195 198 200 202 99. My Faith . IKi. f:^ XVll PAGE 204 lOO. Cloud over the Valley 206 lOI. Aspiring Things 208 I02. Each Man . 210 103. Hymn to Work 212 104. Realisation 216 105- Thought 218 106. my Soul ! 220 107. Saints ! . . 222 108. The Witness . 224 109. Hail, Norway ! . . 227 I 10. Farewell, Dear Snow-Birds ! . Appendix — Interpretation of the Sanskrii ^35 Motto .... ■ 239 Notes . . . 241 RONDANA The sun is setting behind Rondana's pink-rose peak, And Trond, witli his true-gokl crown of glory, stands Gazing at the briglit gods decked in blazing clouds of flame. Who pass across the heavens' western slope. Now comes the gentle breeze, sea-fra- grant, from the northern main, Murmuring o'er winter-nested boughs of gran and furu, Burthened with tidings, waking sad memories in my heart, 2 SNOW-BIRDS Of youthful days and age-long saga nights — Lost, O my Soul, in the voiceless grave of the Past for ever, yea, for ever ! SNOW-BIRDS 3 II COMING SNOW The skies hang heavy with snow, but not a flake has fallen on Trond ; Ashen, leviathan clouds — like monsters of childhood's dreams — invade the forests of gran. I hear the drowsy voice of winds calling across Rondana's height. Like the breaths of sleeping elephants in the caves of the Naga Hills. The leafless birch awaits in awe the advent of the heavenly hosts, But the gran stands erect, mailed in his coat of green, Like the brave gods of old facing the Titans on the field of battle. 4 SNOW-BIRDS The still air is charged with something fearsome, but my heart knows it not — I sit alone at the door of my Cave, dumb, in a happy mood of thought- less expectancy. SNOW-BIRDS III THE SONG OF THE GODS I HEARD the Gods playing on their skyey harps in the far distant hills beyond, Like the sighs of happy lovers in their nuptial night of joy. The clouds were sailing past to their home in the deeps of the West, Casting their fearsome shadows on dim forest and fairy peak. The blue glow sat like an image of dream in the lap of the North, And I saw an invisible Presence stand- ing mute under the stars, As if gently bidding the spirits of life tune their hearts unto silence, 6 SNOW-BIRDS When across Rondana's height on a sudden floated a voice to my ear : ** Hark to the Song of the Gods, O mortal life, and be for ever im- mortal ! " SNOW-BIRDS IV DEATH IN TWILIGHT I SAW Death seated smiliiifjc in the \\cr\\t on Rondana's peak ; The snows of Trond were crimson with fear and the face of tlie sun was hid. A bird flew over my head, chirping in liquid notes of cheer, To her nest in the sheltering furu on the ledge of the Lower Klett. The moon looked wan in the evening light, fixed in the blue above. Looking down on Death and on me — in wonder ? or cold indifference ? Dizziness seized my head, my heart lost the thread of her song, 8 SNOW-BIRDS JNIy eyelids trembling locked the light of their orbs within, And my fancy saw Hope and Despair playing at hide-and-seek — When lo, I heard a laughing voice calling in joy to a playmate : " O Lila, look at the evening star and kiss my eyes again ! " SNOAV-BIRDS RONDANA IN CLOUD Morning hides her face in a veil of sea-blue cloud. Above Rondana's grey-white peak an icy silence sits ; Beneath lies the dreaming Glommen, huddled in his heavy quilt of snow, Like a snake round the root of a tree in the lap of wintry sleep. The snow-birds leave their home in the furu and tly away to the East, In quest of light and warmth and love and food. There stands a village maiden beneath the wreathing mist 10 SNOW-BIRDS That like a spiral stairway climbs to heaven's wondrous heights ; Speechless she stands, alone, on Glom- men's frozen bank. Her eyes are fixed upon the space beyond the cloud-clad hills, Seeing the golden vision of the coming Spring. Breaking the thought-burdened silence of my Cave, unto my heart I say : ** Hope thou no more for Her return " — but my heart is asleep and hearkens not to my words. SNOW-BIRDS 11 VI A TEAR Last nijxht while the wind shook the mountiiins and the thunder roared in the heavens, I fell asleep on my cave-bed of straw, listening; to the carnival of the air. And I dreamed I was sitting alone on the white snows of llondana's ])eak, Watching the fleecy clouds as they sailed toward my Motherland, far in the sunny East. A tear rose to my eye and fell on my palm like a frozen pearl, And mirrored in its globe I saw a woman's image. 12 SNOW-BIRDS She had the face of the morning — sweet, unclouded, wonderful. And I said : " Speak, who art thou ? but mutely she gazed at my eyes. And I felt all the love of the heavens entering into my soul As I fell into trance — it was as sleep within rings of sleep In the arms of unspeakable silence, in a universe innocent as the smile of a dreaming babe. And I woke to the song of the snow- bird, as he hopped to the door of my Cave to bid me hail the rising sun. SNOW-BIRDS IB VII THE BLUE GHOST The moon hung low in a rainbow ring on the western sky ; Like floating icebergs the milky clouds were bordered with silver fringe ; The valley lay asleep at night's last watch beneath an ashen fog That, like a bird of dream, hid church and cottage and furu under its shadowy wings. There was a twilight touch of spring in January's wintry air, And I saw Rondana like an ancestral shade, wrapped in a dim veil of forget-me-nots. 14 SNOW-BIRDS Trond and Storsolen, like babes, awoke to hail the approaching dawn. But seeing the Blue Ghost lifting his head to the light they closed their eyes again — When lo I the heavens were flooded with rays of gold from the Lamp of the East, And Trond and Storsolen and I breathed a sigh as the Ghost returned home to the moon. SNOW-BIRDS 15 VIII A GREETING It is a quiet evening and Venus smiles on Rondana's brow. A dream of summer floats upon the air though January's snows are fresh on Trond. The western sky burns like a garden of poppies and roses At the slope of heaven's heath gleaming with blue grass. There stand the hills, diademed with chrysoprase and burning topaz, And the East shines like a frozen emerald sea 16 SNOW-BIRDS Inset with luminous isles of clustering stars, all gazing at me from afar. I stand at the door of my Cave and the voice of the stars in chorus Says : " Come, we are looking for thee — O come, and be one of us ! " SNOW-BIRDS 17 IX THE SAINTS IN WHITE The fiirus stand before the sun in their winter robes of white As in heaven the spirits of })ure-hearted saints stand in tlie presence of God. The noonday bhize Hoods tlie heavens with a joyous gh)w of hght, And the snow-haired mountains stand like ancient sages rapt in thouglit. On distant Dovre's slopes there hangs a milky veil of mist, As if to hide infinity from the eyes of Nature's sons. Over all is the fragrance of Truth and Calm and Purity and Innocence — The soul sits apart, beyond the light of the sun, whispering her secrets to the quiet fur us in white. 18 SNOW-BIRDS X THE BELLS Alone all night I watched the stars through the opening in my Cave, And the springing rays of the Northern Light came as welcome guests to my door, Like laughing boys running out of school to play in the open. The wind fell asleep in the far-distant home of the gentle sea, And slowly the Great Bear moved over the silent fields of night, While Orion in his bright belt guarded the heavenly flocks. The clouds had gone down to roost on the trees in the valley, SNOW-BIRDS 19 When bells rang out on the Eastern Way through the drowsy forests of pine, Rousing echoes from Trond and Ron- dana and the distant Dovre hills, To bring to my door the Universe's joyous greetings. 20 SNOW-BIRDS XI MORNING FACES I LEFT my Cave to listen to the song of the eastern light When Night was murmuring her greet- ings unto Day. A patch of gold was gleaming on a distant silver cloud, And flakes of snow streamed, noiseless, down the still morning air. The roving shades, like thoughts, sank back to their grave in the dark. Leaving the open spaces to the dancing children of Dawn. Then came the Bright Ones from all the heavens above. And I saw their smiling faces listening to the music of the morn. SNOW-BIRDS 21 XII AURORA BOREALIS Poets of old have not praised thee, O Light of the North, thou art unsung in verse I Or where shall we find fit similitudes to paint thy glory in words ? The ocean is small, the storm-wind is slow, the sky unalive, The forest-fire feeble, the beacon-light dim, And Life itself hemmed in within the confines of this lightless globe. Science in ignorance stands dumb before thy awful majesty. 22 SNOW-BIRDS Hast thou perchance revealed thy heart to Greenland's untutored souls, Like the great sun, mirroring his image In the dewdrops dangling from the tips of the leaves of grass ? SNOW-BIRDS 23 XIII THE CHARIOT OF SMOKE It was the third watch of tlie moonless night, and in my Cave I lay un- sleeping, When as in dream I heard a voice . ** Come, O thou Shape of Day ! " I arose, and a beckoning shadow, veiled in black draperies, whispered : "I am the Lady of Shadows ; come, I will lead thee to the Queen of Night." Anon a chariot of smoke, flying a sable banner in the clouds, bore us aloft. No star did twinkle, no lightning flashed across the dark, But I descried a shadowy barge floating on the lightless ocean of space. 24 SNOW-BIRDS As we drew near a voice rang o'er the blind immensity of night : " I turn all Shapes of Day to Shades of Dark and still them to sleep in my silent realm of Night." SNOW-BIRDS 25 XIV WITH THE MUSES 'TwAS midnight and the crescent moon was looking at the stars, Like a youthful prince smiling upon fair women at his court ; The Lantern of the North Pole swept the heavens with myriad fans of rays, And bound the Quarters with broad bands of many-coloured hght. Trond and Rondana and Storsolen sat in their mountain galleries, Witnessing the Festival of the Lamps, When on a sudden there came a tem- pestuous breath from the icy home of the Jotuns 26 SNOW-BIRDS And with fury blew out the Lantern and sullied the thrice-clear glass of the Quarters. I closed my door and sat by the fireside, musing, in the dim lamplight of my Cave. SNOW-BIRDS 27 XV WILD FLOWERS A COY maiden came to the sea when the sun was rismg from his wavy bed, Bearing a toy-boat in one hand and woodland flowers in the other. Slie stood in the rippling water and watched the rising Light, And gently pushed tlie boat with all her vernal treasures out to sea. Then she knelt on the silver sands and prayed, gazing far into the blue : ** Lead my boat and my blossoms all, O Light of Day, Unto my beloved, who sleeps in the grave of the deep afar ! " And the morning air bore the boat audits blossoms out to the song-throated billows of the vast Unknown. 28 SNOW-BIRDS XVI THE ORACLE The night was still and darkness fell on the earth like a shower of pitch, When as I wandered alone in the silent forest of Loo, I met a tall woman who took my hand and bade me enter a castle. There in the great hall I saw no lamp or candle. But three fair women — each shining by the others' beaming eyes. High on four pillars, under an arching fan of gold, an altar stood. And the fair women came and knelt before the altar-stairs ; SNOW-BIRDS 29 And I heard a voice which said : " Who are ye and what is your prayer ? " And the fair women answered : " Des- tiny, Genius, and Ambition are our names — when shall we be friends, and where ? " " Never and nowhere shall ye be friends to each other — be ye the friends of JMan," said the oracle-voice from the altar. 30 SNOW-BIRDS XVII WINGS High on the sky stands the moon, a week-old infant to-day, And messengers from earth and heaven have come to lay light- offerings at his feet — Orion, the Seven Seers, the Seven Daughters of Pleion and the Her- mits of the Poles. Rondana smiles like a queen, robed in the gossamer muslin of the East tinted with blue of crow's egg, wearing a wreath of rubies round her neck ; The still air thrills with a song from the stars afar. SNOW-BIRDS 81 " Who are the singers and what do they sing ? " I ask. ** We are the immortals of the stars and we are sighing, for men have no wings." 32 SNOW-BIRDS XVIII REMEMBERED FACES 'TwAS noontide and idly my shallop rocked on the breast of the ocean. The sea-nymphs danced on the dazzling path of the wind-gods, And the fairies of ether lightly played their asolian harps. A porpoise swam in the pansy-tinted waves. And like a painted picture an albatross hung poised in the turquoise air. I sat at the helm and piped old mariners' songs Of " Lone, lone hearts " and " My love in her woodland home " ; SNOW-BIRDS 33 And lo, the wild waste of salt waters and the desert of the sky Changed to a sweet, familiar haunt, peopled with dear remembered faces. 34 SNOW-BIRDS XIX THE YOUTHFUL PROPHET I DREAMED of a royal palace where sat a monarch on his throne, And all the prophets, wearing crowns of morning glory, stood before him. A wondrous lamp lit the great hall, and the air was perfumed with stillness. Then said the King, holding a wreath of diamonds in his uplifted hand, "Our kingdom stretches from the eastern to the western seas, And our flag flutters in the snow- winds of the frozen Poles ; Hear now our royal will : Let all the races of the earth be one, all tongues be one and all religions one ! SNOW-BIRDS 35 And unto him who doth perform our will this wreath of diamonds shall be awarded." All stood in silence, doubting, with down-bent heads, under the pend- ent lamp of the great hall. And there advanced a prophet, long- bearded, sword in liand, and said : " All hail, O King, by the power of the sword will I do thv bidding." " Nay, rather beat thy tliirsty steel to a ploughshare," said the King. Then there arose a prophet, smooth- tongued, with shaven face, and said : ** With wiles, secret and great, will I do thy behest, O King." " Nay, cast away thy wiles and go thy ways," said the King. Then came a prophet with gold in hand and said : ** By the power of gold will I do thy will, O King." 36 SNOW-BIRDS ** Nay, get thee to thy lady's bower and charm her eyes with gold," said the King. Then spake a prophet of soft speech and said : " As a holy man will I go forth, O King, with sword and wiles and gold hidden beneath my surplice. And I will make Tyranny appear the Righteous Law." ** Nay, in the desert shalt thou live till thy life's ending," said the King. Then rose a youthful prophet with gentle, dreamy eyes and said : "Let me go to each man's door, O King, and bid him search his heart and find the One." And the King arose and embraced him, and amidst a sullen silence crowned him with the wreath of blazing diamonds. SNOW-BIRDS 37 XX who:m ? What is my Name ? thou askest, O rover on the Sea of Breath ; There is one who remembers my unuttered name. His name is Oblivion. Where is my Home ? thou askest, O thou who dwellest in the Year ; My home is in the unvoiced Echo which wakes from Nowhere. What is my Work ? thou askest, O builder of the Blue ]\Ioon ; I weave the stuff of Dreamlessness and with the fragrance of the empty Nothing do I perfume it. 38 SNOW-BIRDS Who is my Love ? thou askest, O thou deserter of the Heaven of Love- iessness ; 1 love the birthless Youth who never was, nor is, nor ever shall be born, who ne'er shall be the image of my eyes nor know my arms' embrace. SNOW-BIRDS 39 XXI KING RA There was once a great king Ra, who ruled the land of Va wisely and well. His subjects were true and noble and lived in the love of God ; They knew not poverty, disease, or war, and no man left this life until the blossoms of a hundred summers had smiled before his eyes. Their gardens were full of fruit, their fields were full of corn, and full of honey were their hives. Thus, m the happy land of Va, King Ra ruled righteously for eighty summers. 40 SNOW-BIRDS And there came an angel from God's heaven and said : " Hail, King ! God is merciful, and by His grace even with this thy body of clay thou shalt ascend to heaven." And the king spake and said : *' Glory to God in the Height, for He hath shewn mercy unto His servant Ra ! But shall I be happy in heaven, O kindly messenger, without my minister Hu and all my good people of Va ? " And the angel said : " By the mercy of God thou and thy servant Hu and all the people of Va, even with their body of clay, shall ascend unto heaven and live for ever." So did it come to pass. And men of faithful heart even in these our days see in the firmament The heavenly city of the virtuous Ra — the great king of the ancient land of Va. SNOW-BIRDS 41 XXII THE BRAHMAN Said King Yu : " I am Lord and King of the people of Mu, And my kingdom is great and the IMues are brave, But my brother, King Uu of Ou, is haughty and his people the Ous are proud. I will conquer the land of Ou and humble the haughty King Uu." They met with pomp and splendour on the grassy plains of Ki, And their armies lay encamped on either bank of the Li. They held long parleys and it was royally agreed 42 SNOW-BIRDS That the two kings should fight in single combat. With kindly looks the royal brothers met and kissed each other on the brow ; Each drew his sword and swung it high to plunge it deep into his brother's heart. When swift and unawares Aam, the High Priest of the Mues, Crying " Let the priest's blood stay the brothers' strife," Threw himself 'twixt the jostling swords of the royal combatants. And, twice-pierced by the thrusting steel, fell dead. Once more the kings were brothers and pledged their love over the bleeding body of the High Priest Aam, Lying in glory on the grassy plains of Ki, beside the murmuring, willow- bordered Li. SNOW-BIRDS 43 XXIII THE BODHI-TREE Unknown to myself I live, unknown to the sky iiud to the honey-birds that wing their Hight in leaping curves across the Unknown. One golden morn when Silence came to bathe I saw my image in the ripples of the silver ocean ; The white mountain once chanted an anthem of Spring in my ears, and I dreamed a dream of Love wander- ing in a field of poppies ; From the ivied eaves I saw the bats flitting among the shadows of the poplars in the evenmg ; 44 SNOW-BIRDS I saw the swallows of Sapur flying over the ocean at night to their summer nests in Nordland ; I heard the sound of waterfalls pouring from Gangotri's ancient ice on heaven-kissed Himalayan heights ; I heard the festal song of free nations ringing through the streets of their proud cities. These glories did I see and hear — yet, to myself unknown, I live to-day under the lights and shadows of the Bodhi-tree. SNOW-BIRDS 45 XXIV THE NIGHT-BIRD "What song-offering hast thou brought me, O Bird of Night ? " I said, " The night is cold and dark and stormy and my heart is full of fear." And the Night- Bird fluttered near me and perched on my pillow and sang: " I have brought in my throat a song from the children who laugh and play At the blue edge of the sky, where the star-fairies come to dance and sing and love." '* O Night-Bird, and wilt thou not sing me a song of the Night ? " I said — 46 SNOW-BIRDS When lo, I saw the face of Dawn, weeping at the door of my Cave, And the Night-Bh'd died and melted away in the golden heart of the Morn. SNOW-BIRDS 47 XXV SPRING GRASS ** Dost thou not love me ? " said the spring grass to the smiling sun, " Under the snow I sat, waiting for thee, while storms were raging in tlie misty skies. Did I see thee come in the wintry night or hear the beetle chirr ? " " I came and I came again and peeped at thee through the snow, I danced on the yellow moss each morn outside thy door, And under thine ice-latticed window each eve I sang thee a new seren- ade," said the sun. 48 SNOW-BIRDS " I lay asleep in my lightless home and in dreams I heard thy song, And I knew that thy heart was true and again I should see thee in Spring." So spake the fair spring grass and trembled in the breeze, And the gentle sun touched her brow with his ruby lips of rays. SNOW-BIRDS 49 XXVI THE DARK GUIDE " Whither, whitlier wouldst thou lead me, O Dark Guide ? " I said, " I am weary and sore of foot and the prairies of ice seem endless ! " " At the Temple of the Tired Feet we shall rest," said the Guide. JNIany ice-mountains we climbed, many deep gorges we traversed. And a mighty snowstorm came out of the clouds and fell on my banner. " I see no temple light, I hear not the chant of the priests, Tell me, O strange Guide, shall I wander back to the valley ? " 50 SNOW-BIRDS I stood. And behold ! the Guide had left me and only an echo mocked from the ice-cliffs : " . . . back to the valley ? " I lifted my eyes and saw a blue-winged bird, flying before me and singing, And I followed the bird and rounded the Little Knee, And lo ! on the summit there shone the Temple of the Tired Feet ! SNOW-BIRDS 51 '^I'^ XX\ II THE BENGALI CAPTAIN The cannons roared and the bullets streamed thick through the smoky air ; The field of Mons was strewn with heroes lying like quenched stars on the plains of night. And among the dying there lay a Captain, of great heart and young, from fair Bentj^ala's o'olden shore. *' O Mother Humanity, hear my last wish, hear my last prayer to Thee," he said, "May'st Thou rise — even now when my moments are melting into Eternity — like a bird of Spring, free and beautiful and great. 52 SNOW-BIRDS And soar afar into the untouched height of the empyrean And sing of Thy dream unbroken, Thy hope unstunned. Let not the children of To-night be blamed by the children of to- morrow's Day. Hail ! Mother of To-morrow ! " And he awoke to Life 'mid flaming springs and laughing air and dead men's greetings. SNOW-BIRDS 53 XXVIII THE STORM-GODS Dawn came, holding a dim lamp in her hand, And stood on my doorstep, veiling her face in clouds. The lone fiiru leaned his head to catch the murmur of the frozen stream, Whispering her heart away in her dark icy home. The storm-gods were dancing and sing- ing on the birch-clad slopes. And the sylvan deities joined in their sky-shaking song. The rumbling drum-beats of the clouds, like a throbbing pyramid of sound, pierced the high ether, 54 SNOW-BIRDS And all the Quarters of the heavens were flooded with the music of a joyous universe. And the snow-bird fluttered in at my window and sang in my ear : "Nature's cataclysmic song is but an ode born of thine own singing heart of joy." SNOW-BIRDS 55 XXIX SArPHIRE SHORES I SAW the dim waters of a lake beyond the far distant sky, Across Rondana's radiant, pearl-crowned brow. The gods were sleeping on its sapphire shores Under the shimmering opal haze of the Tree of Immortality. The air was full of the harp-throbs of amber bees, Gathering honey from flowers of Tran- quillity, And the blessings of Sublimity, in un- felt showers, winged through the 56 SNOW-BIRDS mid-space like weightless dust of gold. No bounding line hemmed in the ends of space beyond the diamond peaks, No turquoise sky hung like a veil between the Unseen and the Seen. In the clear mirror of the lake I saw no face of sun or moon or star, But an effulgence, like the fancied Presence of the unknown Beloved, rested on flower and tree and shore. SNOW-BIRDS 57 XXX ox THE RIVER SANDS I GATHERED wild blossotiis ill the morning and wove a garland of them in the day, And now in the evening I wait for Thee to come and take my flowery gift. The birds fly back to their nests in the trees and the cows pace leisurely home in a trailing cloud of gold- dust, And I see the mother standinor on the doorstep, calling the wayward children home from play. There in the half-hidden bower the swain is singing to his love, 58 SNOW-BIRDS And the ferry-boat crosses the river with its last load of pilgrims. I will listen for Thy footsteps in the quiet night under the moonlit sky. On the river sands, holding the garland of wild blossoms in my palms, Till Thou come and take my offering with Thine own sweet outstretched hands. SNOW-BIRDS 59 XXXI IN THE FERRYMAN'S BOAT My dwelling was lampless and the shadows of night were falling fast on the trees, The doors of my leaf-hut were broken and tigers prowled in the forest. A cloud loomed darkly over the blue waters of the West, And I sat alone on the strand, fearing to part with the Moment that presently sleeps in the lap of the Past. " Where lies the road to the ferry ? Will the Ferryman call me ? " I asked. 60 SNOW-BIRDS There rose the moon, and the pilgrim rays slept by my side on the sands. The clouds died into the Unseen and the heavens smiled down on the loosened tresses of the awakening Earth. Then came the Dawn with her sky- pilgrims' song, and I felt a warm touch on my hand, And in the Ferryman's boat I crossed the waters to the Home of my Beloved. SNOW-BIRDS 61 XXXII THE TWO LADIES " Thou art but a mortal wandering in the valley of Sorrow, This house wherein thou dwellest resteth on arcs and pillars built of burning sighs. The light of the moon is but a dying dragon's phosphorescent breath, Thy love is the ghost of a shadow, fading into the dark, And the fire of thy life is fed with the curse of the witch of the desert. Whene'er I list I put thee on the rack, to feast my eyes upon thy sufferings, 62 SNOW-BIRDS And I fatten thee that thy carcase may serve me for meat." Thus spake the Lady of the Thorn. " Thou art the son of God and this is His heaven- world, Thou breathest immortal air, thy destiny is divine, The perpetual sun is a spring of love, showering eternal blessings. Power, Beauty, Goodness, Wisdom — these the stones whereon thy dwell- ing resteth. Thy friends are radiant beings risen from the sky and the ocean. Music and mirth and laughter fill the heaven of thy days for ever more. I am thy Eternal Friend, O dear one, thou luminous spark of joy im- mortal ! " Thus spake the Lady of the Rose. SNOW-BIRDS 63 And while I sat listening to their mighty words The snow-bird hopped to my Cave-door, bearing an ear of new barley in his beak. 64 SNOW-BIRDS XXXIII EKEWHEN When the soil of my heart loses its nourishing sap, Be unto me as quickening shower from new-born clouds. When my mind listens to the hum of self-making bees, Be unto me as the deafness of self- forgetful sleep. When shadows wander in the twilight heavens, wearing Love's bridal smile, Be unto me as sight's fruitlessness in midnight's sable gloom. SNOW-BIRDS 65 When sumptuous summer paints this cosmic screen in beauteous hues to hide Thee from my eyes, Be unto me as the nothingness of winter wastes of snow. When my hands build a temple in Thy name for myself to dwell therein, O Friend, arise then as Thine own overflowing Fullness and proclaim, " I am the Self of thyself." 66 SNOW-BIRDS XXXIV WHEN? When will they let me go to Thy open fields, they who have tied me to themselves with ropes of light ? For mine eyes are afflicted and the heart's knot presseth me sorely. When shall I hear the unstruck music of Thy beginningless Word ? For mine ears are filled with their voices and their songs overflow the Quarters. When shall I be flooded with the glory of That Unborn Light, And be washed away from these sands of sun and moon and stars ? SNOW-BIRDS 67 XXXV THE WISHIXG-TREE *'CoME, spread thy sail, and we will take thee to the silver shores Where dwells the Queen of the Stars in her wondrous castle of irems. There we will build thee a house of pearls under the wishing-tree, And thou shalt live in the liirht of her smile as long as summer lasts." Thus spake her messenger to me. " Nay, but I cannot come," I said, ** I wait upon the Queen of Life. Each morn I w^ash the ruby floors and sweep the lotus-tinted doorstep of Her palace, 68 SNOW-BIRDS And tend the trees and creepers of Her garden. No house of pearls have I for summer dwelling, All through the seasons under the heavens of Her grace I live And my labour is lovely as the light of Her sweet smile." And lo, the Queen of the Stars stood smiling before me — " Even here will I build thee a house of pearls, That thou may'st dwell in peace throughout all seasons and eternity." Thus spake the Queen of the Stars to me. SNOW-BIRDS 69 XXXVI UNDER THE BOWER OF NIGHT I HEARD Him playing on His flute and the stars sat listening in the sky. The notes came pouring down the hills and mingled with the murmur of the streams. I stood beneath the bower of night and fixed my ears in the sky, And gave my heart and my mind to hear the song of His piping. The winds lay asleep on the bosom of the drowsy sea, And I saw the Queen of Dreams stand- ing on tip-toe at the heavens' edge. 70 SNOW-BIRDS The stars closed their eyes and died in the joy of His song, And I know not myself since His melody entered my soul. SNOW-BIRDS 71 XXXVII DYING EYES Once Thou didst come to my door as the sound of autumn rains, while I sat watching in the niglit of the wilds, And I was mindful to greet Thee, O dear Traveller of the Desert ! Once Thou didst come to my door as the nameless light of the shadowed moment, while the day moon was hiding the face of the morning sun, And I was mindful to greet Thee, O dear Traveller of the Desert ! Once Thou didst come to my door as the siren voice of the evening seas, while the birds of cloud were flying to their nightly rest, 72 SNOW-BIRDS And I was mindful to greet Thee, O dear Traveller of the Desert I Once Thou didst stand apart as the silence of unheeding Death, while the Shades of Night were gazing at the dying eyes of my beloved — Then only did I fear to greet Thee, O dear Traveller of the Desert ! SNOW-BIRDS 73 XXXVIII BUDS AND BLOSSOMS The clouds were rising above Rondana's crown, like a flying garden of pomegranate blossoms, As Dawn peeped out from her curtains in the silent seas of the East. Whose face was it? Who smiled on the path of my eyes — showering buds and blossoms of crystal light? I heard none call, the notes of His song touched not my ears. Why throbs my heart ? Who is singing this plaintive song in the desert of my soul ? 74 SNOW-BIRDS I will close my eyes, I will cover my ears, I will hold my heart with the palms of my hands — Ah, then let me die away in the silence of my soul's wordless, infinite song ! SNOW-BIRDS 75 XXXIX THE ROBBER OF TEARS I HEARD a voice calling my name from Gaurisankar's snowy height, As the Seven Sages eyed the sickle moon near Kanchanoantja's golden peak. " Why dost Thou call if Thou wilt not be seen ? " I said, And I turned to seek my homeward path, to welcome the cows from the pastures, When lo, the voice called me again, the same soul-stealing voice. *'No tears have I left for Thee, O Robber of Tears ! 76 SNOW-BIRDS I will go home," I said, " Thou art but a cunning tempter." Who caught my hands ? Who pressed me to His bosom, As the wings of the giant cloud-bird hid the slender sickle moon ? SNOW-BIRDS 77 XL PYROLA Above a bed of cool green moss by the side of dropping waters, There bloomed a little pyrola in the heart of Telemark's hills. The summer filled the mountains with warm breezes from the sea, And the swallows flew back from the fields of the south To their homes in the eaves of Norway's happy farms. The quiet lakes were gay with trout and perch and pike, Leaping under the dancing beams of the sun. 78 SNOW-BIRDS The cows grazed busily on the green sequestered heights, And in the blue air I saw a golden bee, Winging his way to the lonely pyrola above the weeping-stone. Then sang the bee : " I am a thirsty guest at thy door, sweet Pyrola ! " And the pyrola bowed her fragile head in the noonday sun and murmured : " O summer guest, I have waited with stores of sweetness in my soul for thee to come to my door." SNOW-BIRDS 79 XLI ALLAH'S WAYS There lived a hermit in the desert with no friends but a weaver-bird and a bee ; The bird brought him figs and almonds and wove him a garment of leaves, And the bee brought hi in honey of lotus and rose from the fragrant gardens of Loo. In a little palm-leaf tent sat the hermit and said his daily prayer : " Allah ! let birds and beasts live and be happy — but let men and women die." One day a mouse came to live there and dug a hole in the ground, 80 SNOW-BIRDS And gnawed the robe of leaves and ate the figs and licked the bowl of honey clean. Next morn the hermit rose from sleep and found no fruits, no honey — And angrily he sat to prayer and said : " Allah ! let bees and birds live and be happy — but let mice and men and women die." One day came Salin's little son and daughter across the desert from the palm-grown oasis of Loo, To see the saint and learn from him the ways of Providence. They brought him luscious fruits and flowers and cloth of camel's hair. And the hermit sat in prayer and said : " Allah ! let only mice die ! Let birds and beasts and men and women live ! " One cloud-veiled morn the mouse lay dead, with a diamond in its mouth — SNOW-BIRDS 81 Then sat the saint on the warm desert sands and prayed : " Allah ! let all live and be happy, and let me only die ! " 82 SNOW-BIRDS XLII THE GARLAND OF EVERLASTINGS The snow-gods were dancing on the fields of ashen air, When I lost my way to Gausta Peak, crossing a frozen lake. I sought shelter in the Kirke-Cave and there lay down to rest. The cave was warm and dark and still, and while the storm -gods sang their heaven-enthralling song I dreamed — resting my head in the lap of Sleep. Seven fair women I saw, gathering thorns on a summer hill. SNOW-BIRDS 83 Their faces half-hidden by the shadow of a passing cloud. ** Tell me, O sisters fair," I said, **who are ye and wherefore do ye gather thorns ? " " We are six sisters and our names are Poverty, Misery, Insult, Broken- Heart, Pain, and Early-Death, *' And we are weaving a garland of thorns for a Poet in the valley," said one, the palest of them all. " I am the seventh sister — my name is Fame — and I am weavinfj Him a wreath of everlastings, "said another, the loveliest of them all. 84 SNOW-BIRDS XLIII SEA TREASURES I DREAMED of twilight sleeping on a sea — saltless, unwaving, infinite — And of bathing children, seeking sea- treasures on its shores. One, the tiniest of them, threw a sea- blossom at another. Who stooped, unthinking, and took it in his hand and laughed. And from his laughter were born morn- ing and moonlight and the glow of the Poles, Painting with white the heavens, the mid-air, and the calm seas below. Another then, the biggest of them all, struck the little one with a bubble of sea-foam. SNOW-BIRDS 85 And the little one cried. And from his cry was born the music of the spheres. Then came the Sea-God and took the httle one by the hand and washed his tears away. And I asked, *' O Image of the Deep, who art Thou ? and who these children playing on the sands ? " ** This little one in tears is Life," he said, " the one who threw the flower is Mercy, The biggest of them, he who struck the tiny one with foam, is Time — And I AM all-consoling Eternity." 86 SNOW-BIRDS XLIV ETERNAL MORNING I AWOKE at the call of Eternal Morning as He stood with unwavering smile before my eyes ; I greeted him unspeaking and the well of my tears dried up in the sun of His love. He spake as He took me in His em- brace, and His words were as golden birds from a golden universe of light. The sun touched my feet and spake with amaranth lips of rays : " Evening and Night, the Daughters of the Sky, shall no more visit thy heavens, SNOW-BIRDS 87 I will illumine thy home with the lamp of Eternal Morning." And ever since I dwell with Him and He with me — in our home of lis^ht — forgotten by the Daughters of the Skv. 88 SNOW-BIRDS XLV NEW LIFE I WILL not listen to thy chant, O Singer of the Night ! I will not come to the river, O Thirster after Night ! I will not wander among graves, O Traveller in the Night ! I have built my home on the strand in the sound of the song of the ocean, I have seen the sun rise upon the Last Night's passing. And I will hasten home and welcome at my window the Bird of Morn. SNOW-BIRDS 89 XLVI THE POLE-STAR They bid me wait on the sands of the the river, But I cannot, I cannot ! They bid me Hnger on tlie moonlit heath, But I cannot, I cannot ! They bid me phiy in the dusky twilight, But I cannot, I cannot ! Farewell, O comrades of childhood's days, Farewell for ever ! I hear the sighing call of the Ocean, And I will spread my sail with my eyes fixed on the Pole-Star. 90 SNOW-BIRDS XLVII THE FALL OF THE HEAVENS I SAW the heavens fall. And on a sudden mountains, trees, and rivers were folded in a nameless shroud of white. Where are the oceans and the silver shores girdhng their waters ? And the fair cities with their spires and minarets and lamps and living souls ? Suns, moons, comets, planets shot out of their orbits, each clashing against each, and vanished in the universal haze of white. There was no sound, no light, no life throbbed in the darkness. SNOW-BIRDS 91 Was there a seer, seeing with unwink- ing eyes the soundless cataclysm of the far-flung Cosmos ? And I heard the whispering answer of my soul : ** I have destroyed my universe, for I fain would be free of my vesture." 92 SNOW-BIRDS XLVIII IN THE LIGHT OF THE UNDER-OCEAN The ship sank and we all went down, below the pitch-black waves. The waters closed above us and we felt a gentle pull, drawing us slowly down to the coral floor of the sea. On a sudden a light flashed forth — and in the lucent waters each saw his comrades all ! No one of us did die ; we lived, un- breathing, in the salt-free water of the under-ocean. No one of us was weary ; we laughed a merry laugh SNOW-BIRDS 93 And formed a ring and danced, each grasping the warm hand of his sailor-brother, And sang : " May they live merrily who loved us in the Land of the Sun — hurrah, in the Land of the Sun 1 " 94 SNOW-BIBDS XLIX THE DAUGHTER OF KING JA One morn when Ja was ploughing on the banks of the tireless Su, He found a little egg, blue as the heavens, lying on the broken soil. He took it in his hand and bore it home across the river. It broke in twain and lo, a little girl- child stepped smiling from the sundered shell ! And instantly one part became a palace and the other changed to a magic kingdom, flowing with milk and honey. And shouting men and women from the market-place ran with raised hands to the palace and hailed Ja as their king. SNOW-BIRDS 95 They named the earth-born maiden ** Si," the daughter of King Ja. And Si grew like the waxing moon, playing in the palace gardens of King Ja, Till Ra, the princely son of Da, came to their court and married Si, sweet daughter of King Ja. Long years they ruled together over the fair folk of Aa, But one dark moonless night when Ra came home from hunting his heart was smitten with a doubting sick- ness . . . And on the instant IVIother Earth spread forth her arms and took in her embrace her sweet child Si, the daughter of King Ja. And naught remained, so sing the bards, but the broken banks of Su, a ploughshare, and the ancient ploughman Ja. 96 SNOW-BIRDS LITTLE FOO On the sky-hid uplands of Kansu, where the Sanpo winds among pale purple asters, lit-blood poppies, and rosy twinkling primulas, There lived a little boy named Foo, motherless and unfriended. One evening as the sun went down he stood before the gaunt, bare cliff, Jing Ko, and called aloud and said : ** Mother, where art thou ? " And out of the dusky shadows came a threefold echo, wave upon wave, ringing with tender throbs of memory . . . "art thou . . . thou . . . thou?" SNOW-BIRDS 97 And Foo believed it was his mother's voice, answering his call from her high dwelling on the shadowy- ledge above the eagle's nest. And when the evening cow-bells tinkled in the valley and the tired day-god went to rest, Foo would stand before Jing Ko and call aloud and listen to his mother's answer: "thou . . . thou . . . thou." One day came Hilpi, the sister of his mother, and kissed him and took him to her home, down in the smoke-roofed village of Lil-Cho. And Foo ran out at evening to the village-green and called aloud as was his wont : " Mother, where art thou ? " No answer came, and little Foo shouted ao'ain and vet atj^ain. And still he called . . . until the chamber of his speech was shattered . . . and he died. H 98 SNOW-BIRDS Even to-day the pilgrim lays a tear- ofFering on the mute grave of little Foo, Nestled among pale purple asters, lit- blood poppies and rosy twinkling primulas, on the sky-hid uplands of Kansu. SNOW-BIRDS 99 LI ONLY A BIRD I AM not God nor His messenger — I am only a singing bird. I am not a Poet nor liis Muse — I am only a singing bird. I am not prophet, I am not sage — I am only a singing bird. I fly in the heavens across the seas and come to sing at thy door, Each dawn when the morning god smiles on the ocean. Each eve when the twilight god sings at earth's ends. Each night when the god of thy heart sits in silence, alone with the god of my heart. 100 SNOW-BIRDS LII WISH ME A SONG WouLDST thou wish me happiness, O my Love, Then wish me a song, a song, a song. Wouldst thou wish me death, O my Tyrant, Then wish me a song, a song, a song. Wouldst thou wish me heaven, O my Consoler, Then wish me a song, a song, a song. SNOW-BIRDS lO'r Wouldst thou part unspeaking, O dumb Friend, Then wish me a song, a song, a song. Let me wander alone on the sea-shore and seek a song 'midst the sands, And I will not speak to the saihng white clouds if I find the sands to be sands — only sands. 102 SNOW-BIRDS LIII WILT THOU NOT COME? I SIT here to welcome Thee all through the night and the day — Wilt Thou not come, O Love, wilt Thou not come ? The sun does not rise, the stars do not shine, the birds have deserted the trees — Wilt Thou not come, O Love, wilt Thou not come ? The winds of night have forgotten my garden, the angels sing no more in my dreams — Wilt Thou not come, O Love, wilt Thou not come ? SNOW-BIRDS 103 The seas are dumb but my harp-strings are not broken — Wilt Thou not come, O Love, wilt Thou not come ? All, all have forsaken me — sun, moon, heavens, earth-dust, and human- ity- Thou canst not forsake me, O Love, Thou canst not forsake me. 104 SNOW-BIRDS LIV ETERNAL REMEMBRANCE I HAVE been in the far distant land where dreams seek no home of night, But have I forgotten Thee, O my Love, O my Love? I have seen no lovely face that fades, I have heard no song that ends. But have I forgotten Thee, O my Love, O my Love ? I have seen no star that sets nor drunk of well that dries, But have I forgotten Thee, O my Love, O my Love ? For Thy sake have I wandered and made an epic of my wanderings. SNOW-BIRDS 105 And I will sit on the grass at Thy doorstep and sing Thee this un- ending psalm of my eternal remem- brance of Thee, O my Love, O my Love. 106 SNOW-BIRDS LV TO-MORROW'S BLOSSOMS Though the leaves have fallen and the well is dry, Still will I live for the blossoms of to-morrow. Though the winds blow from the North and the blades of grass are white, Still will I live for the blossoms of to-morrow. Though the snows have come and the skies are heavy, Still will I live for the blossoms of to-morrow. What though to-night my palm be a brimming pool of tears ? These eyes still thirst for the vision of to-morrow's fragrant blossoms. SNOW-BIRDS 107 LVI UNDER THE RAINBOW-ARCH OF TEARS Who tau<^lit me to love Thee and none but Thee ? It was Tliyself, it was Thyself. Who drew nie to the temple when I w^as yet a lisping infant ( It w^as Thyself, it was Thyself. Who guided my feet through trackless forests and pathless sands ? It was Thyself, it was Thyself. Who robbed my heart from the lake- lotus, the winter woods, and the evening seas ? It was Thyself, it was Thyself. At the sound of Thy lute I left my home in the gloom of night. 108 SNOW-BIRDS And now it is dawn and I am waiting beneath the rainbow-arch of tears, And here at Thy gate I will stand all day and listen to the jasmine- showering music of Thy reed. SNOW-BIRDS 109 L\ II THE NEST The day-sky is dark with clouds. If tiie boat come not at eventide, Shall I wait at the ferry all night, O my Soul ( Pale shadows move o er the woodlands, the waves of the Jamuna are ashen with fear, And the peacocks are crying at sight of the new-risen clouds ; Shall I wait at the ferry all night, O my Soul ? He promised to come at day -close, when twilight broods o'er the home-coming cows. 110 SNOW-BIRDS Yonder the mother-bird is kissing her young ones to sleep in the nest — Shall I wait at the ferry all night, O my Soul ? SNOW-BIRDS 111 LVIII THE RAINBOW STAR OF THE SOUTH Once in the dusky twilight of a long- forgotten world I saw Her face. She was alone and unsurrounded by the heavens of thought. She wore a halo round Her head and a gentle sadness sat upon Her brow ; Her eyes were like the eyes of honey- birds that wing their flight between two misty oceans, Yet rest eternally, as I gaze, high in the light of the silver ether. I stood before Her like a child stand- ing on Tron gazing at the rain- bow Star of the South, 112 SNOWBIRDS And still I remember Her face, seen in the dusky twilight of a long-for- gotten world. SNOW-BIRDS 113 LIX SEA-CLOUDS One eventide She looked at me as if to ask me if I loved Her, And I laid all tlie gold of my love at Her feet ; She spoke not and we parted as the twilight faded on jasmine-scented Jamuna's air. I wandered away to the desert forests beyond the Binna hills in the South, And my soul whispered within me : " Never shalt thou return nor hear again the murmuring heart-beats of Jamuna." I 114 SNOW-BIRDS Once as I stood beneath the drifting sea-clouds of a moonless night, The doors of my dead heart opened and I saw Her, gazing sadly into my eyes, As if to ask me if I loved Her. SNOW-BIRDS 115 LX LOVE-OFFERINGS I SAW her in tlie morning climbing the steeps with a basket of fruits in her hand ; She smiled as she climbed, high and high, up to the peak where the moon was sinking at day-dawn. ** Whither goest thou ? And to whom art thou bearing these fruits, little jNIother ?" I asked. And smiling she answered, " I carry the love-ofFeriufj^s of the livincj to their beloved who dwell in the moon." And I saw her enter into the moon, like a star smiling itself away into the glory of the morning sun. 116 SNOW-BIRDS LXI UNUTTERED WORDS He was ordered to the front, a fair youth of two-and-twenty summers, But he returned a divine being of eternal years — With nose, tongue, ears, eyes, limbs, all blown away. I greeted him with words of welcome — did he hear them ? I placed fresh roses near him — did he see their morning smiles ? He had one love — the picture of his mother ; I held the holy framework to his shat- tered lips — did he kiss her lovely brow ? SNOW-BIRDS 117 He lay upon his couch like the Path of Pearl-dust in the lap of Night — was he resting ? I stood by the fireside and gazed at his unexisting face, And his heart whispered to mine in unuttered words of joy : '* I have survived speech and sight and hearing and all — save love for thee, O dear one ! " 118 SNOW-BIRDS LXII SILENCE My song ended and I lifted up my eyes and gazed into Her eyes : ** Why have not my brother and my sister seen Thee, Divine Mother ? " I asked. " Because they trust me and talk of me," She answered, laying Her finger on Her lips. Humanity shed dark tears and the Manes in the twilight shades moaned their hearts away. And I was left alone with Night and Heaven and Ocean and Eternity — all speechless, crowned with silence. SNOW-BIRDS 119 LXIII THE GOLDEN LOTUS I SAW my soul like a universe in sunset flames, Spreading above, below, and far and wide on every side, Reaching beyond the zones of Time and Space and the world of the dead. The stars moved suspended from me like specks of silver dust, This life of mine with face and limbs looked like a tiny golden lotus Floating in the azure depths of an ocean of living air — Vast, illimitable, infinite, unwaving, colourless and still. 120 SNOW-BIRDS I heard not the sound of my heart nor saw the unseen Light That out of Nothhig makes this glorious sphere, peopled with countless, love-laden " me's/' SNOW-BIRDS 121 LXIV HOME I FORGOT *' me " playing with the star- light on the sands of the night-sea, And I wandered away, leaving " me " forsaken on tlie desert shore, Unto the furthest sky, where evening visits not the unending day. The air was dallying with the garden flowers and the honey-song of the niffhtino-ales, And the clouds hovered over the trees like glowing pools and spouts of flame in the still ether. Was it my home — the old home ? Was it my garden — the old garden ? 122 SNOW-BIRDS I entered my new home — my oldest home where once I lived alone, Before the Poet showered light upon this earth and ocean, before I loved this "me." SNOW-BIRDS 123 LXV NEW GRAPES Bring me new grapes and press me a cupful of nectar — My throat is parched and I cannot sing. The dust of the road has darkened the heavens — My eyes are dim and I cannot see. Come, sit near me and play on thy harp, And sing me a song of lonely, lonely clouds. And let me rest my head upon thy bosom And fall asleep to the murmuring song of thy strings. 124 SNOW-BIRDS LXVI THE CLOUD She sat on snow -mossed Kailas and dreaming I lay at Her feet while the sun slept on the silver haze ; I prayed Her sing — but She gazed at the cloud and sighed. " What ails Thy heart ? What saddens Thee ? " I questioned ; She heeded not my words but gazing at the cloud She sighed. The sun smiled his last wan smile and the night wept tears of gloom. And the stars forgot their tracks in the pearly maze of the heavens ; SNOW-BIRDS 125 But when Dawn lit her dim lamp in the East She whispered in my ear : "I hear my children's tear-choked voices rising from gory fields of carnage in the West." 126 SNOW-BIRDS LXVII THE GARDENER I KNOW I shall not pluck the flowers or gather the fruits, I shall only water the plants and fence them round. I know I shall not reap the harvest or glean the scattered ears, I shall only till the soil and watch the fields. I know I shall live my days and my nights in my hut in the garden. And sing to the trees and the creepers and the rainbow -hued border - bushes. And the clouds will come and shower their drops of life, SNOW-BIRDS 127 And the moon will rise and feed with nourishing rays The barley, the wheat, the maize and the rice, And the six fair seasons will dance their rhythmic dance in the garden, And I shall sit under the Asvattha-tree and play to their dance on my seven-stringed cithara. 128 SNOW-BIRDS LXVIII THE LISTENER Once, ere the silver-sprinkled heavens were hung in Space, there lived a Poet- Alone, unspeaking and unspoken to, amidst a universal muteness. One eternal moment his heart beat and he wished an Other, who might listen to his voice. He spake ; and thus was born Vak, Being of perfect beauty. And the Poet opened his eyes and beheld Vak, the Gracious One, sweetly standing before the ocean of stillness, and he blessed her ; SNOW-BIRDS 129 And from his blessing- word were born three sons — Truth, Right, and Im- mortality. And Vak smiled with her eyes and from her smile were born three lovely daughters — Dawn, Day, and Twi- light. The three sons sing in tlie heavens, in mid-space, and on earth, And the three fair daughters light the lamp hi the three same spheres. But Vak lives ever in the Poet's heart, listening to the voice of his soul. K 130 SNOW-BIRDS LXIX TO THE FOREST Hail, Aranyani, Mother of wild flowers and singing birds ! The Seasons come with soundless foot- falls To deck thee in new garments, woven in the unseen halls of heaven ; The clouds bear snows from the distant Poles To shower them with gentle hand upon thine unbound tresses ; The Dawns rise in their far-off ocean home To bring new greeting song each morn to the throats of the drowsy birds ; SNOW-BIRDS 131 The Evenings descend in their dusky robes from the cloud-castled peaks, And all unknown to thee breathe sleep and dreams and quiet peace into tliy verdant soul. Thou hast bound the Heavenly Powers in the golden bonds of love, And sages, saints, and seers repair to thee To listen to thine oracle-voice of Uni- versal Wisdom. 132 SNOW-BIRDS LXX THUS SPAKE THE MOTHER Forward ! Forward ! Carry my banner beyond the Boundary ! Cross the ditches, break the hedges, and march unto the Beyond ! Soar into the firmament and pluck the light of the stars, Dive unbreathing into the billows and seize the secret of the lightless sea, Scan and control what mighty powers lie hidden in the soul's unfathomed deeps. Nature will bring her long-saved treas- ures to serve and nurture thee. But thou shalt lead Humanity by the hand with gentle, ceaseless, sweet, unasking love. SNOW-BIRDS 133 LXXI THE PSALM OF NIGHT The cows liave come liome and are sleeping now in their stalls, The children smile in tlieir dreams and the fire on the hearth is still, The mountain is windless, the moon is kissing the trees. And a cloud is sailing over the forest to the shores of unknown seas. Aurora stretches trembling fingers to touch the stars in the silver sky, And Night sits, lifting her glorious head above Winter's ocean of snow, Chanting the melodious psalm of her soul unto the Beloved of my soul. 184 SNOW-BIRDS LXXIl O LOVE ! If I see Thy face in the gloaming light and know Thee not, Show me Thyself in Thine own sweet light, O Love ! If I hear Thy voice when my noisy loves are clamouring round me, and I turn not my ear, Call me again when they sleep, O Love ! If in the deadly contest Thy banner fall from my hand. Lead Thou the host to victory, O Love! SNOW-BIRDS 135 Be Thou the star of my nights, the sun of my days, And the sweet sea-breath of |my life — each moment and for all eternity, O Love ! 136 SNOW-BIRDS LXXIII WAITING The heavens are sleeping and winter's veil hides the Beyond from my gaze, The mountain rills lie frozen and the trees stand leafless on Sorklett. I hear no voice, no sound of footfalls on the lone mountain path, No golden cloud sheds a passing sheen on the dark desert of my heart. " Shall I live in an eternity of dumb, unstirring gloom, And see my soul crumble to falling motes of darkness ? Would that I had a lamp wherewith to chase the shadows from my Cave!" SNOW-BIRDS 137 " O soul, let not thy wailing voice fetter the freedom of unfleeing Silence, Nor wish thou any light that shineth not from the Nest of the Golden- Feathered One." 138 SNOW-BIRDS LXXIV THE LOTUS I KNOW a strange and wondrous seven- petalled lotus — a pitcher of pure honey — Floating in a wondrous lake set round with watery banks, And a golden honey-bee that circleth round and round above the bound- less lake And wingeth to the flower of seven petals, yet wishing not to kiss its lips or gather of its honey. Unto the first petal he murmureth : " Nor Life nor Death do I despise. But build thou me a house where I may live and die in happiness." SNOW-BIRDS 139 Unto the second doth he breathe : " I thread out this ravelled web of Care, But let to-day no hut or palace cage my darkness." Unto the third he whispereth : "I am Yea, I am Nay, But I die not for a word in the light of the sky." Unto the fourth lie singeth : "The great is great and the small is small, But I boil both souls in the cauldron of the Whole." Unto the fifth he chantetli : " Let the people feed on seraphim and dragons, I melt the stars and of their gold I fashion a one -winged, songless Bird of Heaven." Unto the sixth he hummeth : " The wizard Nothing weaveth this warp and weft, 140 SNOW-BIRDS But I move up and down and drink the liquid light of my heart." Unto the seventh he draweth nigh but singeth not nor moveth, Even as the petal he becometh and, like a pearl in the morning seas, sleepeth for ever a strange waking sleep. SNOAV-BIRDS 141 LXXV THE RAVEN Oft have I heard thy croak over the wood-crowiied hills, O Raven, thou sage of Eternity ! And I have looked up to the heavens and seen thee sailing like a night- ship in the everlasting blue. Witness of my childhood's ways, thou wast the first to hear my baby sono's in the village meadows. Oft hast thou flown before me when, unwilling, wearily I crept to school, As if to guide me to my far-off days of joy and wisdom, then unseen by my foolish eyes, fondly fixed on dolls and games. 142 SNOW-BIRDS And when the sun went down behind the hills and play-weary I lay me down to rest with mother's kiss imprinted on my brow, Then didst thou croak me to sleep from thine unseen nest in the J ha u- tree. And in my dreams didst thou not visit me — a golden raven bearing golden ears of corn to my doll's -house granary ? And in my homeless wanderings over unknown deserts and strange lands and sunless forests and twilight ocean-shores, On cloudy days and shadowy evenings thou hast been to me like the needle which trembleth to the Pole, O friend of my way, O faith- ful companion of my life ! Thou hast waked me at dawn — even as Aurora doth the sun — from childhood's golden dreams, SNOW-BIRDS 143 And called me to Life's wondrous awakening from dim certitude to the full daylight of resplendent Truth. 144 SNOW-BIRDS LXXVI TEACH ME A PRAYER Teach me a prayer that I may ask for nought But live my days as Thy voice which crieth in the wilderness of souls and stars. I gather summer flowers and autumn fruits and my granary runneth over with the golden grains of winter ; Unasked, earth yieldeth her delights, the heavens their joys, Humanity her power, her pain, her strivings, and her dreams. From soul to soul passeth a message and a yearning, SNOW-BIRDS 145 And my hopes ascend to the sun and die — to be born again as dews for the thirsty herbs. Words bring forth a harvest of desires abundant as moon - rays in the empty space. Ah, listen not to my heart-beats, feel not the throbs of the flood of life Which — its why and whence and whither all unknowing — rusheth beyond its own ! Teach me a prayer that I may ask for nought. 146 SNOW-BIRDS LXXVII TO THE MOTHER OF AMBROSIAL RAINS She called aloud from the Isle of Death as the green sea was turning red and purple, And Her voice was borne to my Isle of Life like a streaming moment in the sand-glass of Infinity : "Dawn is awake, O Companion of God, when shall our sea-paths meet and where ? " " O Mother of Ambrosial Rains, Thy voice once I knew in my heart — now do I know Thy soul, O Thou of overflowing love I Four times the sun hath circled round the heavenly signs since Thou wert here, SNOW-BIRDS 147 The twilights twain have come and left the tremulous stage of heaven, unspeaking, While Dusk with melancholy counte- nance sat by the pale image of Eternity ; And they whose pilgrim feet wander across the star -ways out of the future into the dim halls of in- scribed visions unforgettable Have passed like serried ranks of dumb, unlaughing children in the village avenue. O JNIotiier of Ambrosial Rains, our sea- paths shall rise above the cloud- ways When the Golden Bird from the South shall fly to the North and the great tree drink again of the opulent waters — The Ancient Tree with everlasting roots grown upward in the firma- ment." 148 SNOW-BIRDS LXXVIII THE BRIDGE OF LIFE I SUFFERED shipwreck in the sea of sorrow and the waves washed me to the sad shores of Pain-land — A stony isle where grows in plenty a small green bush of thorns called Trouble ; The fields bring forth no fruits, no corn — only wild berries, bitter to the taste, And the sunshine there is blurred by banks of inky, stifling fog called Fear. No man, no woman, nay, nor angel did I meet there — only a multitude of shadows, SNOW-BIRDS 149 All hurrying on monstrous feet to a dark river called Death, Shoreless, wide-stretching, with yawn- ing, gaping waves and eddies. I saw a slender twisted thread floating above the waters called the Bridge of Life, Whereon alone, unguided, 1 crossed the stream and reached the continent called Happy -land. Who welcomed me with open arms and smiling eyes, standing under the mornnig sky, 'Midst just-awakened flowers of Spring that wooed the golden, honey- thirsty bees ? 150 SNOW-BIRDS LXXIX A NEW STAR My soul has brought forth a new star of great lustre, peopled with a new race of men. It swings in a new sky, upheld between the visible poles of Truth and Mercy. The clouds pour rains of heavenly Pity, the mornings beam with rays of Charity, The waters taste ambrosia-sweet and murmur the song of Forgiveness, The girdling forests are full of trees and creepers bearing fruits called Right, Faith, Knowledge, Peace and Wisdom. SNOW-BIRDS 151 The air is fragrant with the scent of honey -flowers — it is so sweet a thing to breathe ! There 'tis a wondrous joy to see the hearts and thoughts of men, And women are fair of soul as they are fair of face. There birds and beasts and fish and worms are good and beautiful, And live and work in mutual trust and sweet humihty. And the bright gods sit in the bhie halls of light and rule the true- souled denizens of my star at the command of Love-born Harmony. 152 SNOW-BIRDS LXXX THE VEIL She stood before me with the veil of the Universe upon Her face, As the spring morn was rising behind grey light and mist and clouds. I saw Her not, for the veil was thick with lurid broideries of living, moving shapes, unutterable, un- sightly, fining my soul with fear. And from the veil there issued forth strange sounds, deafening my ears, Like the roaring of a thousand thunders when Hekla hurls her flaming stones over the sleeping ice-wilds of the North, SNOAV-BIRDS 153 When the arctic ice-wolves howl, the whales cry, and the monster wal- ruses gnash their fearsome teeth. I saw stars with stars colliding, filling the illimitable space with dust, And the angels' ether cities wrapt in fiames, and hosts of fair aerial beings fleeing, with terror in their eyes, to all the quarters of the heavens — to East and West and South and North. "O lift Thy veil,'' I cried, "my ears are dead, my eyes are blind ! Show me Thyself as Thou wert wont to be ere this dark veil was woven ! " " Let not my veil affright thee, O my child ! I dwell above, below, behind the veil. Watching thee, guarding thee from harm, even as a mother the babe she holdeth to her bosom." 154 SNOW-BIRDS LXXXI A MESSAGE 1 HEAKD a new song in the heavens, I saw a new face in the sun, And I forgot my old world, and the old weary life of the senses died within me. There was no twilight nor shining day nor night ringing with the voice of living stars ; I saw no celestial fairies sitting pensive on the luminous peaks of the moon ; The Twins stood not guard in the heavens, nor Mars and those who yoke his steeds. SNOW-BIRDS 155 Only one other was there who Hstened to the song — the ever-wakeful soul, Who rises phoenix-like from the abysmal flux to the source of the firma- mental waters. And in the floating tones my heart heard tlie message of mighty things and wondrous blessings, coming to gladden the sad heart of Humanity. 156 SNOW-BIRDS LXXXII ODE ON THE RISHIS, THE DARSANIKAS, AND THE SANNYASINS OF INDIA They have lit this lamp of worship on the altar of our human heart, To illumine paths for all mankind through the endless night of time unborn. The ancient peace of heaven -crown'd hills those guardians of the hallowed flame have borne To every home where unsophisticated love of man for man still dwells enshrined ; Full of the fragrance of the dark-dis- pelling dawn and silent eve, their SNOW-BIRDS 157 message do the mystic seas pro- claim, From dreams of shadows to awaken nations and turn their hearts unto the God within. The lives of lesser beings ebb and flow, their self- appointed destiny to fulfil ; The Rishis' souls, like never- setting suns, on all that lives shed peace and trutli and loving benediction. Over the threshold of Becoming they have seen the advent and the going- forth of Life, The Why, the Whence and Whither have they known of souls en- sheathed in vestments of decay ; But wisely are tliese things unutterable unuttered still. Each whispers unto each : "Nay, let the heaven and earth uphold- ing pillars be concealed — from curi- ous gaze for ever be concealed ! " 158 SNOW-BIRDS To move the world they live, the world forgetting — the world renouncing to redeem the world ; Starlike they dwell, each pilgrim guid- ing who sunward climbs the hill ; waiting, foreknowing, with patience strong as faith, till all existences, all lives, all beings, the highest and the lowest, attain their joyous freedom, peace perpetual, made one with Bliss Supreme — Brahman, The True. SNOW-BIRDS 159 LXXXIII O MAN ! My sleei) was broken bv a sone: risiiiii from Life's vast ocean to kiss the rays of the Pole-star : " Wilt thou not save me — me who am Life, who live my fleeting days of pain seeking the treasures of affec- tion ? '* Hast thou not heard me as the milch cow, lowing to her calf on the summer heath amidst the season's buzzinoj sono^ ? "Hast thou not seen in my full, dark eyes the image of Divine Love ? " Hast thou not seen me as the strong- necked ox, cheerfully drawing the 160 SNOW-BIRDS plough in Spring's seed-time, for the coming wheat and rice and barley which shall feed mankind ? Hast thou not seen upon my noble brow the monument of heavenly austerity ? " Hast thou not heard me as the moor- hen, clucking to her chick on early spring mornings in the heavenly quiet of the woodlands ? ** I fly to my nest on the high pillar under the cornice of thy roof as the grey pigeon, and coo my be- loved to sleep in the dim evening twilight. " I am the cock — friend of the Sun and the Dawn. I live like a king in my barnyard, attended by my queens of incomparable beauty ; I am the wise one who wakes the farmer and the milkmaid to greet the glory of the morning god ; Hast thou not heard my hymning SNOW-BIRDS 161 voice of praise rising to the throne of the high King of the skies ? " On solitary mountain hikes 1 come to dwell with my little ones as the duck of glittering plumage, when the gods retire to their arctic temples and the water grows warm as the love of my heart. ** I am the fish of silvery hue, and God has placed me in the sweet waters of the lakes and streams and in the bosom of the great salt sea ; I am the whiting, I am the whale ; I am the trout, the turbot, the lobster, and the arch-shelled crab ; I am the parent of the fowls of the air and the beasts of the field ; I am the symbol of Freedom and Plenty. Hast thou not seen me leaping out of the waters to greet the moon when she stoops to kiss the brow of the swelling ocean ? M 162 SNOW-BIRDS " I live on the highlands as the gentle deer of golden dappled skin and large, soft eyes, wherein the ample peace of hill and plain, the tender- ness of rivers is reflected ; I sustain myself on moss and sweet spring water ; The bright gods are my friends — Sunshine and Cloud and Rain and Storm and Snow ; they come to greet me in their seasons. " I am the timid hare ; I wear the white furry gift of the snow -gods in winter. Hast thou not seen my fleeing foot- prints of fear on the milky foam of January's hills ? '* I am the helpless sheep ; I wander with my flock over the high grassy downs ; I have neither claws nor teeth where- with to defend myself. Hast thou not seen me starting at SNOW-BIRDS 163 the sound of thine iron footsteps on the stony slopes of the moun- tains ? '' I am the fleet-footed goat; I scale the precipice to sniff the pure, free air ; I know the secret of the abyss. Hast thou not seen me suckling my young ones while I stand contem- plating the grass-flowing meadows of verdant Spring ? " I am the beast whom most thou dost despise and most thou cherishest : I am swine. I am the wild tusked boar ; I am the village hog and sow. I am the first four-footed one who lived on land and water. I am the image of meek long-suffer- ing and forgiveness. Hast thou not heard my shrill-toned voice of gratitude when the house- wife brings my scanty mid -day meal ? 164 SNOW-BIRDS *' I am the patient horse ; I bear thee on my back and drag thy heavy sledges up the steep mountain roads ; I serve thee and befriend thee from my childhood to my old age. I am the type of universal sacrifice ; And when I grow blind, diseased, or old, and thou comest with iron hammer in thy hand to slay me — seest thou not the tears in my eyes ? " I am man, I am woman ; I live, even as ye live, on the love of father, mother, sister, brother, wife, hus- band, child and friend. Often thou art pleased to call me 'heathen,' 'foreigner,' or 'enemy,' and thy heart makes friends with steel and lead and fire and poison, and with their aid thou dost burn my living flesh and hew my limbs and crush my bones and befoul my blood. SNOW-BIRDS 165 Thou art Life — yet thou invitest Death to murder Life. " O thou Soul of Compassion, let not thy nostrils breathe out Hate ! " O thou Angel of Charity, let not thy mind worship Revenge ! " O thou Incarnation of Peace, let not thy hand, for liunger, reek with gory Death ! ** O King, O Democrat, wax not strong on thy brother's flesh, thy sister's blood, to wage w^ar on me ! ** O save me, love me, cherish me! Even though thou call me 'beast,' 'bar- barian,' * enemy,' or * foreign devil,' I am in truth what thou art — I am I^ife ; and Pain and Death I fear as thou dost fear them. I live, as thou dost, on the Love of God, O ^lan, O Image of Divinity ! " 166 SNOW-BIRDS LXXXIV LIFE'S SEASONS What is this Life — this Life which throbs within the heart and pulses in the limbs ? It runs and rushes and wrestles with other lives by day and weary of the struggle lays itself down at even in the lap of Rest, To dream of battle-scenes of yesterday and of the coming contests of to- morrow. Is It like a ship that leaves the port at night and sails away into the mist and palm-high billows of the wide- stretched main, SNOW-BIRDS 167 Perchance to visit other seas or enter other ports under the sun of other skies ? Or is It like a drama of ten acts — its hidden wonders scene by scene unfoldhig before the dazzled gaze of the spectators, until the curtain falls, the lights are quenched, and a dark, awful silence broods o'er the erstwhile soniy-rin^jint; hall ? Or like the seasons of this ever-rolling, sun - baked orb — beginning with the cuckoo's song of Spring and ending with the bitter storms of Winter, year after year, in un- obstructed uniformity ( Or like the Lord of Day — the golden bird of heaven — unto our unen- lightened eyes of flesh seeming to rise and sink, but in his own proper sphere shining for ever, steady, unmoving, fixed ? Is Life Its own heaven, Its own sun, 168 SNOW-BIRDS Its own measure and Its own Pole- star, living from Eternity to Eter- nity, in Its own eyes unsetting and unrising ? SNOW-BIRDS 169 LXXXV LIFE S WEB How strange is this Life witiiiii nie ! It is like a spider that weaves its web with thread from its own mouth and spreads it over the airs of space. Lo, I sit alone under the shadow of Eternal Emptiness and from the unseen, unheard words of my heart I spin the thread of my existence, whereon to hang this dark orb and those luminous spheres above. Is not Life this all ? The fleecy lamb, the shears, the spinning-wheel, the loom, the shuttle, the weaver, who plans all, and his nimble fingers ? 170 SNOW-BIRDS Life loves to live — to spin and weave this rainbow-tinted web of infinite worlds. Or are all these mere shadowy shapes, haunting the twilight corners of our dreams, to fascinate and awe and cheat the drowsy dreamer, who lies in an abysmal chaos of darkness — helpless, unfriended, alone ? Are we as fishes in the lightless subter- ranean waters, by impetuous under- currents borne along to unknown path-ends ? Or like blind birds of mighty pinions in a sunless sky, caught in an arctic tempest of titanic fury, yet flying on, with courage triply fortified by the prevision of a star, where grows in quiet light and gentle air the eternal, shelter-giving, beaute- ous Tree of Life ? O where is Wisdom, whose all-consoling SNOW-BIRDS 171 light dispels the darksome fear of absolute extinction ? O where is Love, who takes us by the hand and leads from joy to ever newer joy ? 172 SNOW-BIRDS LXXXVI BESIDE THE PARENT WATERS Higher and higher I rose, until I reached the banks of the great firmament al waters, Whence flows the greatly - winding, threefold stream of Duty, Love, and Contemplation. I sat by the source of the Parent Waters that spread far, far above the sweet light of Cassiopeia, of variable Algol and of Capella with her Hoedi. There on an island in the high-rising waters reigns Beauty, soul of sur- passing peace, amid the holy lights SNOW-BIRDS 173 that far outshine the histre of Andromeda as she speeds through glowing nebulae ; And there gleams a mountain, brilliant as the radiant spheres that form the constellation of the Swan, And from its glittering peak ever there issues forth a stream of rings, transparent as tlie veil of shining cra])e tliat rims tlie inner edge of Jupiter's encircling, luminous bands. The colourless radiance of each ring of light grows triple-tinted as the ring floats downward to the sun- side of Space, sundering itself into three downward -pointing pyramids of flame, of ever-shifting hue. I stood upon the mountain beside the spring of Parent Light and saw these fiery flames growing in mag- nitude as they swept past Perseus and the Hyades and Betelgeuze, 174 SNOW-BIRDS revolving Neptune, Uranus and ruddy Mars, until they reached the airless desert of the moon and touched the orbit of the earth as blazing comets speeding through the sky. And the earth-babes, sleeping in the night, heard in their dreams the voices of three gods — each mightier than the other two. SNOW-BIRDS 175 LXXXVII THE PILGRIM I AM bound tt) Thee with tlie Howerv cord of Life, Around my heart play the night-oceans and the dawn-mountains ; Thou callest me on the fiute of the spring winds. And I lose the way to Thee in the evening forest. The water -gods are dancing and singing a mournful lay, I hear not the footfalls of the PiWrim in the airs of the sky. I wander all night seeking His foot- prints on the mountain moss. 176 SNOW-BIRDS I start at the sound of my own breath, thinking it an echo of His voice, I weep, sitting under the ancient birch- tree, but the moon holds not up her lamp. The breeze blows from Tron and sighs at my sorrow, and under the juniper I hear the moorhen crying in her sleep. The rumbling sounds of the lakes in the dark hollow fill my heart with fear — Now comes the North-light, bow-shaped, like translucent crape of misty glow, veiling the face of Lyra and Andromeda and Pegasus and Vega, And a colour like cold steel spreads o'er the Southern heavens, heightening the ruddy fervour of Mars and the mellow light of Jupiter. I stand beside the brook, waiting for the Pilgrim under the gazing eyes of the Night-gods. SNOW-BIRDS 177 LXXXVIII TO AN ANCIENT BIRCH-TREE Alone, unfriended, thou standest on the snows of Tron, like the spirit of holy Loneliness, O ancient Birch- tree ! The wild storm-boars have cleft thee in twain, the snow -wolves have gnawed thy limbs and the wind- lions have bent thy body — thou livest but the half of thy former self. Thou standest like the hero of a hundred fights, who proudly bears his scars, ready for the .battle of to-morrow, undaunted by the sufferings of bygone days. 178 SNOW-BIRDS Thou hast but a single livmg bough, whereon the copper - tinted leaf- buds are peeping forth to greet the tardy Spring, like the voice of Consolation crowning at last frus- trated, ruined hopes. In what sweetness, beauty, glory dost thou shine, standing beneath the luminous canopy of Aurora-hearted night, when the winds sleep on the snow and the Seven Sages smile in the sky and the thrush dreams among the leafy pines. Thou art not a birch -tree — thou art the picture of the Veda -echoing land of Bharata, whose soul still breathes, undying, beneath the pyramid of her ashes, to vindicate the Eternal in the heart-beats of Humanity. SNOW-BIRDS 179 LXXXIX TO A NAMELESS WINTER BROOK I HEAR the song of thy soul rising from beneatli thy heaven-tinted ice, O winter brook, Hke sleeping bees murmuring in dream to the lake- lotus and the pomegranate blossom and the half-blown orano^e bud. The music of thine unseen waters rush- ing down the mountain side is like the yearning of my love within the heavens of my memory for my sweet JMother, who long has left this snow- chill earth. The willows were gazing at thee with 180 SNOW-BIRDS love when Winter hid thee from their sight beneath the jade-green ice; They shed their leaves for farewell tears, and still they stand, tenderly bend- ing over thee — their tears are frozen into pearls — waiting for thy return in Spring. But the great pine at loss of thee fell dead. And still he lies in state, like a dead king, and the clouds shower snow-blossoms on his faded glory, eager to honour him who dies for love. winter brook, O nameless one ! hidden in these unknown forests of pine, ever thou art alive, thy glorious song is ever rising from thine im- mortal heart for my delight and for the cheering of thy feathered friends — thou knowest no death ! 1 see in thee no subject of the Winter King ; thou art a picture of my SNOW-BIRDS 181 Mother living in the great Beyond, and of her voice heard now in dream, and of Eternity veiled from mortal sight. 182 SNOW-BIRDS xc ON READING AN ARABIC IN- SCRIPTION IN A SHRINE OUTSIDE THE TOWN OF BAGHDAD, DATED 912 HEJIRA Upon this simple slab of granite didst thou sit, discoursing of fraternal love and holy light, O Guru Nanak, Prince among India's holy sons ! What song from the source of the Seven Waters thou didst sing to charm the soul of Iran ! What peace from Himalaya's lonely caves and forests thou didst carry to the vine-groves and rose-gardens of Baghdad ! What light from Badarinath's snowy SNOW-BIRDS 183 peak thou didst bear to illumine the heart of Balol, thy saintly Persian disciple ! Eight fortnights Balol hearkened to thy words on Life and the Path and S})ring Eternal, while the moon waxed and waned in the pome- granate grove beside the grassy desert of the dead. And after thou hadst left him to return to thy beloved Bharata's land, the fakir, it is said, would speak to none nor listen to the voice of man or angel ; His fame spread far and wide and the Shah came to pay him homage — but the holy man would take no earthly treasures nor hear the praise of kings and courtiers. Thus lived he — lonely, devoted, thought- ful — for sixty winters, sitting before the stone whereon thy sacred feet had rested ; 184 SNOW-BIRDS And ere he left this House of Ignor- ance he wrote these words upon the stone: "Here spake the Hindu Guru Nanak to Fakir Balol, and for these sixty winters, since the Guru left Iran, the soul of Balol has rested on the Master's word — like a bee poised on a dawn -lit honey-rose." SNOW-BIRDS 185 XCI THE CRY OF AUTUMN ASPENS Am I a stranger here wandering among strangers ? They surround me with their lives, they come to me with their tears and tlieh' smiles, And my soul hears Thy flute in their morning songs, awaking me from sleep. Day sinks into the darkness of night, but my love for them rises into clearer heavens of light ; I hear the cry of the autumn aspens when their golden leaves drop like tears on the hills, 186 SNOW-BIRDS I hear the wailine of the clouds when the evening sun leaves them in the dark wilderness of night, And my thoughts cluster round Thee in them like thirsty bees round a honey-filled hive. I see Thee like a lotus swaying in the summer breeze on the great lake of the human heart, And I see Thee in the eyes of the angels like the celestial Cloud of Magellan, And like the music of a mountain spring I hear Thy voice in my heart, by day and by night. SNOW-BIRDS 187 XCIT O FRIENDS! Let us agree, O Friends, and on the new world's altar of sacrifice establish a righteous commonwealth of nations The bright gods in heaven live in each other's admiration ; so let all nations live, admiring each other. Look up and see how the constellations of the stars respect each other's paths ; so let every nation respect the ways of other nations. In the father's house the elder brother helps the younger ones ; so let one nation help all other nations — let it be as moonlight to the eyes of them that walk by night. 188 SNOW-BIRDS How sweetly do the saints rival each other in godliness ! So let the nations rival each other in goodness and soulfulness. The dawn chases away the ghosts of night to make room for the light of the sun ; so let all nations combine to dispel the gloom of heartless- ness. Let every nation seek its shield of protection in upholding the inviol- ableness of all life and sentiency — for a clear national conscience weaves for the nation the lotus- garland of eternal life. Woe unto that nation which would itself be honoured, free and per- manent, yet harms, humiliates, and wipes out other nations ! Let every nation's record of daily con- duct be such that it may be recited as an Epic of Light by the coming humanity of the Perfect Age. SNOW-BIRDS 189 Let the budding sense of nationhood flower into the full-blown rose of Divine Humanity. Civilisation which is of the soul, when wedded to Freedom, becomes im- mortal ; let all nations strive to honour the wisdom of the heart above all else. Let all nations think and mould their inner dispositions in such fashion that they may serve posterity for the foundation stones of the future edifice of Love. Let a nation honour the divinity within the humanity of other nations as greatly as the divinity within its own humanity. Hearken ! the dawn-birds are heralding the rise of a new luminary, whose celestial light shall flood these woodland homes of sorrowing, thought-burdened Humanity ! 190 SNOW-BIRDS XCIIl UNDER THE MIDNIGHT SKY I SEE a hand writing on the walls of the Seasons, by day and by night, Words, which the souls of the dead breathe to the souls of the unborn. Their breaths flame like the spears of Aurora stabbing the heart of the midnight sky, And bring forth the many-tongued towns and villages that gleam among the evening shades. A dark pall veils the heart and joy of enchanted Life — dreamily weaving, like a risen mummied queen within the many-storeyed vault of a Pyra- mid. SNOW-BIRDS 191 Her voice is hushed, she sighs no more, her sorrows flow murmur- ing beneath the ice of her frozen tears, Within her mind her eyes behold the rising of the golden cloud of Hope, that floats away beyond the hills — perchance to melt and fall upon strange sands and rocks and salty wastes. A moment is big with a universe spreading over an cuon, peopled with beings that fain would be born to grow on love. Time, the flammivomous dragon, flies from infinity to infinity over the peaks of human hope, ceaselessly devouring the offspring it so lustily has reared. See, the leaves of grass are sleeping under the spring-tide moon ! Hark, the white owls are hooting among the shadowy elms ! 192 SNOW-BIRDS Who will stifle this bud of the soul, yearning to burst into the many- coloured blossom of throbbing joy ? SNOW-BIRDS 193 XCIV MY DEATH I REMEMBER, I remember how once I died. It was simple as breathing, It was swift as a spoken word, It was cool as soul's peace felt in dream. I knew not I was dead, nor knew I that I lived — An earthquake shook the roots of the green tree of life, But on the instant all was as the memory of a forgotten tale, And Past and Future melted into the heart of the eventless Now. o 194 SNOW-BIRDS My sundered heart, like a broken ball of musk, perfumed the air with its wealth of love, I saw no sky, no clouds, nor heard the wailing of the sunset sea. No wish stretched forth its hands beg- ging for pleasant shadows. I slept not — too subtly awake to sleep, too deeply asleep to dream, I lay In a trance of unimaginable life, of soundless, lightless, loveless, im- passive Infinity. SNOW-BIRDS 195 XCV YE WHO ARE TEACHERS AND LEADERS Listen, ye friends, ye who are learned and pious among the five races of men, Listen to me as ye would listen to one who loves you. Teach unto your people that Truth which is of eternal birth — that Truth which is the heritage of gods and of men ; Ask not man to bow to aught which is not eternally beautiful ; Exhort your fellow-men to rally round the white banner of Compassion ; 196 SNOW-BIRDS Tell them that Honesty is sweeter than Life ; Preach the gospel that God is Right- eousness in conduct ; JNIake them believe that Justice is the essence of true manhood and true womanhood ; Let them know that the glory of the strong is to forgive the trespasses of the weak ; Recite to your children the saga of kindness to all living beings. To you who are rulers and leaders of nations I say : Ye shall workfor the happinessof the folk; Ye shall liberate the man of the soil from poverty and ignorance, Ye shall serve the weak, the diseased, and the helpless. Ye shall glorify Peace, Ye shall worship Right, Ye shall pray for the increase of the harvest of Goodness, SNOW-BIRDS 197 Ye shall broaden the foundations of popular Liberty, Ye shall sound the bugle calling all nations to the Feast of Friendship, Ye shall be the messengers of Unity. 198 SNOW-BIRDS XCVI THOU CANST BE ALL THIS WouLDST thou be known to the God of thy heart as pious, Love what is eternally true. Wouldst thou be known to the God of thy heart as good, Work for the happiness of mankind. Wouldst thou be known to the God of thy heart as wise. Seek that which bestows immortality. Wouldst thou be known to the God of thy heart as lover, Renounce thine all. Wouldst thou be known to the God of thy heart as hero, Conquer thine ego. SNOW-BIRDS 199 Wouldst thou be known to the God of thy heart as beautiful, See Him in all men's hearts. O my brother, thou canst be all this — pious, good, wise, loving, heroic, beautiful — and yet be humble of heart, walking as man among men, with eyes full of human tenderness. 200 SNOW-BIRDS XCVII LAST WORDS " How are man's days well spent, O Guru ? " I asked, standing humbly at His lotus feet, while He sat silent, gazing at the sweetly burn- ing altar-fire. " In the knowledge of the True One, my friend," He said, while the angels listened in the silent sanc- tuary. " And if a man be slow of mind and fail to find the Truth, O Master, shall he live and die in vain ? " I asked, while tears rolled down my cheeks. " Let him live a beautiful life, my son," He said, and His voice trembled SNOW-BIRDS 201 with motherly tenderness while His eyes, like transparent doors of heaven, gazed into mine. " And if he be insensible to beauty and live his days uninspired, shall he live condemned ? " I asked. "Let him wait till in the fullness of time the saint within the temple of his heart awaketh," He said, looking afar across Ganga's light- flooded waters ; and turning to the Holy Flame He added — while tears rose to His great eyes yet took not the form of pearls — '' Let him remember to die a beautiful death." And He closed His eyes. Reverently I touched His feet and withdrew to the dawn-robed silent woods of Spring. 202 SNOW-BIUDS XCVIII THE ORIGINAL CONSCIOUSNESS What art Thou ? Art Thou this Space — the home of seasons and smiling days and melancholy nights ? Art Thou this Time who, like a show- man, brings the dreams of child- hood, the hopes of youth, the con- solations of old age ? Art Thou the Music of the Spheres, faintly sounding as the Celestials chant their praise of Thee ? Art Thou the Primal Waters that prior to the dawn of time unmov- ing heaved, bearing on their bosom the infant Father of Love ? SNOW-BIRDS 203 Art Thou the Soul of the Gods who declare Thy ways to beings of earth and air and water ? Art Thou the Word wherein lies hidden that fire of life which sheds its lustre on the face of Immor- tality ? Art Thou the Love which gently doth persuade the dead to be reborn unto their beloved ones who have lost them ? Art Thou the Breath which plays upon the ocean of Time and Eternity ( Art Thou the Rhythm which inspires the coming and the going of the Muse of this unending cosmic Poem ? Thou art THAT— the glorious original Consciousness, of whom Thy seers sing : " That art Thou." 204 SNOW-BIRDS XCIX MY FAITH All this is one. Though the earth is dark and the stars are bright, this is my faith : there is a hidden hght in man. Though disease we fear and old age we dread, this is my faith : the soul is brave. Though the sun of life has risen and will as surely set, this is my faith : the sun of life shines ever in its place, unmoving. Though the royal swans fly and the storms smite their head, this is my faith : they will reach their home in the Mans a lake. SNOW-BIRDS 205 Though the mountains stand mute and the birds sing merrily, this is my faith : the mountains sing the song of silence in their heart. Though summer is fleeting and winter is long, this is my faith : life lives to hail the coming summer. Though many stars fall — yea, though all stars fall, this is my faith : the Pole-star is firm. Though friends greet like strangers and strangers are unkind, this is my faith : Love will wake in their soul. Though all men have different faces, different minds, this is my faith : one heart moves them alL Though atoms, forces, lives, fates, graces, times, each from the other differs, each fighting for supremacy — this is my faith : all are travel- ling, under the cloud of Unknow- ingness, to the All-soul's temple of rest. 206 SNOW-BIRDS C CLOUD OVER THE VALLEY The evening storms are rising. They are sweeping over the white mountains and the crows are flying with them ; The trees are pale and the pensive dusk-hght lingers on the snow- faint grass of Spring. I see the fair faces of the stars peeping from their dark blue window, to hide again behind their curtains. What Power, what Presence fills the depths of heaven and my soul ! A cloud hangs over the valley and the river's snowy banks are hid from my sight, SNOW-BIRDS 207 My heart shrinks within itself, my soul cries aloud for help. The song of the forest is sad — are the cjods bidding me farewell ? There is an emptiness in the earth, but the air is full of yearning love ! Let me arm my heart with faith and lift up my eyes and look for the coming of the Pilgrim across the pathway of the firmament, from the land of Light and I^ife and Love. 208 SNOW-BIRDS CI ASPIRING THINGS Even the dust will come to be as glorious as a god, And the stones and all things inanimate will be citizens of the Empire of Life. They are sleeping, unseen, in the halls of Mother Night — they whom the dawns of the future will welcome — And the aeons shrink into a moment as they spring into form in their race for perfection. " We will mature a faculty to measure the Eternal" — this is the hidden burden of the song of all mute things. SNOW-BIRDS 209 " We will help you by piling obstacles in your way " — thus speak the gods to all aspiring things. Thus there arises war 'twixt the needs of Life and the needs of Con- science, And oft the man who champions Conscience dies a hero's death, But the gods raise him up from among the dead and crown his brow with a wreath of glory And send liini to pilot the ship of a nation when it is drifting in the fog of selfishness, tossed by the tempest of a liarrying, ruthless civilisation. 210 SNOW-BIRDS CII EACH MAN Each man's Right is all men's God. O nations, crown this Divinity in the fair cities of your kingdoms ! Each man is son of the soil — he has a right to the fruits thereof. Each man is heir to his labour — deprive him not of his right to enjoy the gains thereof, O Lords of Gold ! Each man is master of his time — let not the rich man's wish be the poor man's tyrant ! Each man has a right to learn the plans of Nature, the destiny of the soul and the glory of the All -father — O Kings, secure to him leisure and SNOW-BIRDS 211 opportunity to expand the empire of his knowledge ! Each man has a right to serve those men, those nations, whom he loves and longs to lead to Light — O ye who forge laws, chain him not to your own narrow region ! Each woman has the same right as each man. Slie is man's mother, man's sister, man's wife, man's daughter, man's friend — O senators, forget not your mothers when ye vote for wise laws to perpetuate woman's inferiority ! The gods bless that kingdom where men and women enjoy their rights as freely as do their kings. 212 SNOW-BIRDS cm HYMN TO WORK Work is the limited deity of life. Like Spring, work brings forth new buds on the winter-smitten tree of life to blossom in the sun. How merrily the oxen draw the plough and the ploughman sings as he plods behind them ! Listen to the song of the oarsmen as they row their boat home to the ferry at dusk, while the children run shouting down to the shore to welcome the in-coming bark. Hark ! the mother is humming a song to herself while her loving hands SNOW-BIRDS 213 are busy with a thousand household things. What a heaven of joy is breathed on the noon-tide air when the peasant girls sing, shrinking from the eyes of the youthful sun under the scanty shade of the sugar-canes, while they uproot the thorny weeds, and the little ones shout the birds away from the rice-fields, heavily drooping with ripened grain ! See, there sits a holy man beneath the ancient tree by tlie cool flowing Ganga ! His eyes are closed, his breath is stilled, his heart -beats hushed — he is lost in the light of intra-vision, praying in the secret temple of his heart that his soul may be united with the Over-soul of the universe. There stands the mountain, holding its grey -green garden of woods up to the summer sky ; alone in the 214 SNOW-BIRDS forest a man is felling timber, and the distant hills echo the rhythmic ring of his axe. The poet sits gazing at the silver light that sleeps upon the Santi Hills, searching his mind for a song to wake the memory of infinite music in the hearts of finite beings and surround them with the halo of a love unfelt before. There they are marching out through the city gates, pursued by a mam- moth cobra of dust with hood raised in wrath, — they who brook not to be less than free, choosing to be saved by the hallowed hand of Death in righteous war lest they live to see their country's honour die. O Work, in thee I seek refuge ! Thou art the home where Life grows strong and learns to nobly feel and beautifully think ; I bow to thee, SNOW-BIRDS 215 thou art my Saviour — thou hast saved me from the wish to reap the harvest of my labour in the vineyard ; I worship thee, for thou hast nerved me with the deathless power of facing death in honour of a cause worthy to be championed by heroes whose hearts are full of love. 216 SNOW-BIRDS CIV REALISATION I WILL keep the fire of hope ever burn- ing on the altar of my soul, I will feed it by day and by night with the fuel of industry and the obla- tion of thought. Like a spring plant the great purpose is growing in the garden of my heart ; I will moisten its roots each morn with the water of new resolve, and with vows of renunciation will I hedge it round ; I will forgo all comforts, all pastimes, till this plant of my purpose bear fruit. SNOW-BIRDS 217 And I will not lose patience if the fruit come not in season. The Future enters into the Present to weave life's texture after the heaven- willed pattern, And the Past is overshadowed and the face of the Present made pale. The map of life is many-coloured, show- ing many kings' dominions, whose boundaries are the theatres of un- remitting wars ; 1 will make tliis map of one sole colour and Truth shall reign the one sole king for all eternity. All will I sacrifice — Life, Time, Happi- ness, nay, the whole universe of the gods — To realise that purpose which Truth proclaims to be the all-supreme. 218 SNOW-BIRDS CV THOUGHT Thought is the servant of Truth ; let the servant be loyal to the master. Nature is a loosely woven vreb, veiling the Real ; to pierce with grace and ease this veil is the predestined work of Thought — subtle, logical, intuitive. Culture's greatest glory is to perfect the powers of Mind and range them in the service of the soul. The history of nations without soul is like the evening shadow of a forest sleeping on winter snow. The soul shall be freed from the tyranny of matter, of death, of ignorance, of imperfections and disharmonies. SNOW-BIRDS 219 Let common sense, religion, science, metaphysics, work hand in hand to rear up a humanity that shall be more humane. Let no more the God of soul be tortured on the rack of partial brains. Can a man hope to be happy if he be content with smallness ? Can a man hope to be true if he em- brace not the Universal { Cast off the garment of finitude as the serpent sheds its skin — and the Divine hand shall clothe thee in the white robe of Infinite Light. 220 SNOW-BIRDS CVI O MY SOUL ! Beware of thyself, O my soul ! Beware of thy moods and thy desires which flow out into speech and deeds ! I pray thee, muse constantly upon that Fire which burns to ashes the seeds of earth-attachment ! Let not the witchcraft of thy desire conjure up airy castles, tempting me to dwell therein ! Utter a prayer, O my soul, that my feet walk safely on the razor-edge path of Truth — so hard to tra- verse ! Save me, O my soul, from dreams of earth-hunger and heaven-thirst ! SNOW-BIRDS 221 Be watchful, O my soul ; baffle the power of those moods of mine which — as silk-worms their cocoons — build me a house of bondage ; Moments are wileful, O my soul, beget- ting evil, if thou sow not the seed of good in their elusive, ever-shift- ing soil. Build for me, O my soul, that beautiful heaven of hn-e where my celestial guests may dwell in joy. my soul, lead me unto the highest Abode, whither have journeyed the pilgrim feet of prophets, saviours, saints and scientists, since lords of reason peopled this Creation. 1 am thine own, O my soul, I am thine own ! 222 SNOW-BIRDS CVII O SAINTS! Let us purge our dictionaries of all in- human words, O Nations, and thrive in the light of saintly speech ! There are words like pools of poison that drug man's heart and make him dead to love. Who taught us words like "enemy," "savage," "barbarian," "heathen," " foreigner," " nigger " ? Did they who coined these words vindi- cate man's Divine Creator ? Do they who glibly mouth them help to unify the sundered human races ? Man forgives even the basest ingrati- tude, but the memory of unkind words is as a thorn in the flesh. SNOW-BIRDS 223 Let us say to our tongue : " Thou wert created boneless that thou might'st utter naught but gentle, kindly words ! " Down with Religion, down with Pat- riotism, if these like canker-worms eat into the heart of man to batten on the milk of human kindness ! In a corner of the Cosmos the gods once planted a little hamlet of straw cots for breathing beings ; with the flaming brand of incendi- ary words man has set fire to them — and now the children of men are homeless. O Saints who dwell on continents and islands and peninsulas, come for- ward and strike out words of Hate from the dictionaries of nations and teach new woids of Friendli- ness to children who would grow to be worthy of the name of "man," of the name "woman." 224 SNOW-BIRDS CVIII THE WITNESS I AM the Witness who dwelleth in the soul of all. I listen to thy prayer, I hear the song of thy heart, I lie in the hidden light of the temple of thy thought. Thou knowest me not — nor do the gods who wake thy senses and thy mind, Yet dost thou feel thou canst not work or play or sleep unseen by eyes which look upon thee from the cloudy heights of thine own intel- lect and conscience. Whene'er thou thinkest thoughts un- beautiful or doest deeds unkind, then doth thy heart become a stage, SNOW-BIRDS 225 where before me, the sole spec- tator of the play, thy thoughts and motives masquerade, as in a pantomime. On the snows of Time thou playest for twenty, fifty, or a hundred winters, and lovingly I watch thy hurrying footsteps with the eye of sun and moon and star ; I hear thy shouts of joy, thy cries of sorrow, with the ear of motlier, father, brother, friend and thy beloved one. And when thy soul, world - weary, yearneth to roam the fields of other stars and breathe the air of other skies, I come to thee, O lover of pilgrimages, as thy companion and thy guide, and lead thee to the shores of unknown seas of joy. In the world of deeds thou dwellest as a traveller in a wayside inn, or as a path -finder in a green -foliaged oasis of the desert. Ah, forget Q 226 SNOW-BIRDS not, dear one, thy soul abideth for time and all eternity in that infinite space of peace and blessedness, all-encompassed — within, without, above, below — by Me, the Wit- nessing One. SNOW-BIRDS 227 CIX HAIL, NORWAY! Hail, Norway ! land of strong men and free women, I greet thee ! Thy mountains stand beneath the eyes of heaven like lofty temples of l^eace. What joy throbbed in my heart when thy fjords sent a speechless wel- come out to me, when first I saw thy lamp - starred hills of night from the perilous Northern main ! Under thy robe of spotless snow thy heart is warm with love, and thy skies — blue as the pigeon's neck — ring with the music of gladness, O sweet winter-home of the world ! 228 SNOW-BIRDS What memories wake in my soul as I wander in thy frozen woods, beside thine ice-bridged brooks, listening to the chirpings of the snow-birds ! I rush out — suddenly rising from my winter bed of rest — to greet the midnight torches, held aloft by the fairies of the Poles to illumine thy star-wreathed tresses. In spring when the birch puts forth her purple buds and the long-hush'd music of the brooks peals through the hills in ceaseless echo, when the hlaaveis and the pale wood- star peep out from the dying snow, I listen to the song of the thrush in thy long evening light till I fall into a slumber of golden dreams, to wake again at dawn to the plaintive call of the woodcock. In summer when the sun-god mirrors his image in thy lakes and rivers I sit alone upon the mountain-top SNOW-BIRDS 229 and gaze, with upturned face, at the great white clouds, sailing like stately ships of the gods towards the sweet home of my childhood, nestled among palm and mango groves on Holy Gangas golden banks. Thou nourishest thy children with thy love, perpetually flowing from thy bosom as the life-giving water that springs from every liill ; thy moun- tain-lakes are tears slied by the angels when they bade thee fare- well to return to tlieir home in the ether. Thy peasant-folk are Nature's noblemen and noblewomen. Haakon, thy King, upholder of honour- able peace, whose motto : " All for Norway " reflects the greatness of his heart, sits on the jevrelled throne of thy brave people's love. He rules, himself transcending, fore- 230 SNOW-BIRDS knowing that the sovereign of a people is the Laws ; the Power which guides his life and thought, next to the voice of conscience, is the Common Weal ; and even they whose tongues drop not ambrosia and manna, him the proud title give: " High-liearted servant of all who serve the land with life and love." His royal consort, fairest flower from glorious Britannia's Imperial garden, is perfect model of a mother, wife, and queen ; royal descendant of a line of sovereign rulers, whose deeds lend fragrance to the chronicles of history, un- dying as the attar of Bussorah roses ; whose names with love are uttered in a million homes beyond the seas ; Maud, sweetest link 'twixt thee, O Norway, and that great island -empire, where reigns SNOW-BIRDS 231 King George, the well - beloved, Defender of the Right, the right- eously victorious, his million sub- jects of many a race and land and creed protecting, as shields an ancient, spreading oak from the sun's fierce beams the nesting birds of diverse plumage, diverse song. Land of smooth-waved fjords, of sweet- breath'd mountains, of full-voiced waterfalls ! Land of majestic Northern Light ! Arctic-blessed land ! Land of long winter months, of fleeting spring, and long, long days of short-lived summer ! Land where the winter sun hugs the horizon to his breast ; land where the summer sun, unsetting, riots through the night ! Land swxpt by tempests from the Atlantic and the Polar Oceans ! Land of o;reat sailors, land of fisherfolk 232 SNOW-BIRDS and whalecatchers ; land of ex- plorers of the Poles ! Land of women equal in rights to men ! Land of glad -hearted men who say : " Life is never so bad but it might be worse ! " Land of the ancient Vikings, whose ghosts still haunt the air and come to life again as the children read their sagas ! Land whose folk, sundered by mountain walls, are yet compact, one in heart and soul, mindful of proud Gyda's message to King Harald ! Land of heroic patriots who oft have humbled the aggressor's pride ! Land whose sons behold the vision of Universal Peace and steel their hearts with patience even when the whole world bears the banner of the great god Mars ! O happ3^ land, thou who but now hast seen the downfall of an earth- SNOW-BIRDS 233 hungering, ego-maddened nation, eager to enslave humanity by machines of frightfuhiess, forged in tlie smithy of a hylotheistic culture — may tliy sons follow the path of wisdom, through the green avenue of greedlessness, sublime forbearance, and science nobly utilised, to a new age cf equal honour for all nations ! May they help mankind to realise its golden dream of a united, single heaven- world of harmony, the archetype of eudaemonic eunomocracy ! May thy sturdy sons be ready for to-morrow's task ! May they man- fully put their hand to the plough and till the world-soil, where, freed from the thorny poison -weed of War, the new-sown seed of mutual trust shall in the fullness of maturity brino; forth abundant harvest of world -freedom and world-peace ! 234 SNOW-BIRDS O Motherland of Wergeland and Vinje, of Ibsen, Bjornson, Abel, Birke- land, I walk among thy towns and villages, thy hills and valleys, as thy friend ; and over thy holy name, O Norway, I have built a perfumed rainbow - arch of love, whose one foot rests on Glittertind and one on Gaurisankar's peace- illumined height ! SNOW-BIRDS 235 CX FAREWELL, DEAR SNOW-BIRDS ! The doors of the sky-palace are thrown wide and the liii^ht- paths are seen. There on the silver hills they are sing- ing songs of welcome, Their eyes are shining with tears of joy— They are my long-lost friends. All along the traversed road I have left behind love and tears. And to- day as I look backward, lo ! I see love has brought forth gardens of roses and the tears have deepened to lotus-lakes. 236 SNOW-BIRDS Adieu, O snow-birds ! Ye twittered a welcome when I came to dwell in your snow -forests — twitter again as I say farewell, dear snow-birds ! APPENDIX INTERPRETATION OF THE SANSKRIT MOITO This Vedic text is capable of three interpreta- tions : (1) Metaphysical interpretation. Here "Bird" = the Absolute, Impersonal God. "This together- entering-expanse "== Universal Space of Creation. " Word " = Personal God, Mind and Intelligence of the Universe under the aspect of the Logos ; in the original the word used is "mother." Here the meaning is that the Absolute Self and Being is the support of the Relative Self and Being — and conversely. The Relative Self and Being- is considered as the Mother or Creatrix of the Universe. (2) Physical interpretation. Here " Bird " = the sun. "This together -entering- expanse " = the firmament of suns and stars and planets. " Word " = the creative Voice of mid-heaven or atmosphere. The sense, according to this inter- pretation, is that the deity of the sun watches the creatures on earth. The voice of mid-heaven and the deity of the sun mutually support each other in their work of nourishing creation. In 239 240 SNOW-BIRDS the original the word is "\ic\dng," the literal translation being " Him the mother licks^ He licks the mother." The picture present in the mind of the poet was that of a cow licking her calf and the calf licking its mother. (3) Psychological interpretation. Here "Bird" = the soul. "This together- entering- expanse " = the heart or the space within the heart. " Word " = thought inseparable from language ; or it may mean "life associated with breath." According to this interpretation the meaning is that the soul is in the heart and from the space within the heart it sees all this physical universe of change (" born- being "). The soul and life, or thought and language, are interdependent. In whatever sense the text is interpreted the meaning which the author of this wonderful allegory had in his mind is that the supreme object of worship reveals itself as a direct and immediate Presence in illumined moments in the prayerful soul of man. NOTES Dovre, Gausta, '^ The home of the Jotuns " {Jotunheimen), Rondana, Stor-Solen, Tron. Names of mountains in Norway. Glommen. A river in Norway. Nordldiid. The north of Norway. Teleniark. A district in the south of Norway. Gran. The fir-tree (Ahie.s e.rcelsa). Fur?'.. The pine-tree (Pinus silve.'ftris). Pyrnla. A mountain flower {Pirola luiiflora). The Seven Seert.-. The constellation of the Great Bear. The Seven Sages. The constellation of the Great Bear. The llermita oj the Pole. The rays of the Polar Light. The Nainhow Star. Sirius. The Path of Pearl-dust. The Milky \\^\. The Bodhi-tree. Ficus religiosa. The Asvattha-tree. Ficus religiosa. The Jhau-tree. TamarLr gallica. Gangotri. In the Himalayas^ near the source of the Ganges. Gaurisankar. The highest peak of the Himalayas. Kanchanganga. A Himalayan peak. Kansa. A high table-land in China bordering on Tibet. Badai'inath. A temple in the Himalayas, near the source of the Gauges. Iran. Persia. Aranydni. The spirit of the woods. 241 R 242 SNOW-BIRDS Guru. Spiritual teacher. RisMs. Seers. Ddi'sanikas. Philosophers. Sannydsins. Renouncers. Mansa Lake. The Manasarowar Lake in Tibet. The preceding poems, Nos. V., XXX., XXXI., XXXIII., XXXIV., XXXVI., XXXVII., XXXIX., XLIV., LIII., LIV., LVI., LVIL, LVIIL, LIX., LX., LXIL, LXV., LXVL, LXXI., LXXII., LXXVIII., LXXX., LXXXVII. and XCI. are echoes of commun- ing moods of the soul, the Personality imaged therein being that of the Divine All-Soul. THE END Printed by R. & R. Clakk, Limited, Edinburgh. WORKS BY ^Ri ANANDA ACHARYA. THE BOOK OF THE CAVE GAURISANKARGUHA Some Opinions of the Press Times Literary Supplement. — " A poetic drama strik- ingly presenting phases of Eastern thought and specula- tion on the problems of life, with a Dantesque revelation of the other world." The Scolsmau. — "Abstract, elusive, . . . the book in mellow fancy is ever attractive and thoughtfully exalted." Orrult Review. — " It is the function of a particular kind of art to help people to re-value appearances and sensations ; Bunyan's famous allegory is of this kind and so is the volume before us." " It arrests the mind by the cleverness with which it translates, as it were, the life of the soul into mental pictures, or objects." *' Fancy and poetry are beautiful benefactions, even if they only leave a few traces in a work of art. On this work they have left imprints, besides those of a rare spiritual intelligence." Merthjfr Express. — " One of those rare Bible-books which come along at intervals of a century or so, like 'The Pilgrim's Progress ' or ' Sartor Resartus,' as a sort of apocalypse or further revelation to man." "... Extremely beautiful and exquisitely truthful." " This new Book of Wisdom." " Has any one since Job given finer poetic imagery to the God-given wind of Heaven ? " "... worthy of serious study by all intelligent thinkers." Socialdemokraten, Stockholm (translated). — "Ancient Eastern religious philosophy arrayed in the apparel of fancy and instinct with the spirit of poetry. ..." "The poetical presentation of the subject is masterly, here and there humorously satirical too." Some Opinions of the Press — continued. Svenska Baghladet, Stockholm, (translated).—" It can best be compared to a little Divina Commedia in Indian style." " Besides philosophy there is also poetry and soaring imagination in this beautiful little book." " The cramped circle wherein our thoughts and ideas are wont to revolve is burst asunder by the author's fancy, and new vistas of the possibilities of existence are opened up." Morgenhladet, Kristiania (translated). — " The author shows a deep insight into the complex nature of man and an intuitive feeUng of contact with the whole Hfe of mankind." Illustreret Tidende, Kopenhagen (translated). — "A book quite out of the common, rich in rare and exotic beauty. Its poetical value is extraordinarily great . . . in tone and rhythm, recalUng the ancient Indian poetry of the Puranas and the Upanishads." " The firm closed buds of those poems of old expand into soft fragrant petals in this poem of a descendant of those who wrote the Upanishads." " The tone struck in this book is rare in European poetry, and in such fullness and power has not been heard since Shelley." " The real worth of this book is not to be appreciated from its aesthetic, poetical aspect alone. Behind that lies a knowledge of reality which our naive and superficial Europe has never attained." Century Review. — "The author as an astute philo- sopher is already well known to the public. . . . The present work . . . fully keeps up his good reputation. Coupled with his easy-flowing style the deep underlying philosophic ideas will appeal to many a student of philosophy." Christian Commonwealth. — " It would take an Oriental mind steeped in ancient Indian lore, as well as familiar with modern Western thought, to understand and ap- preciate fully this prose-poem. " Glasgow Herald. — " One of those books that do not lend themselves to review or analysis. ... It discourses of hfe, death, and immortality in that language, half prose, half poetry, to which Indian writers have accus- tomed us :in recent years. The dialogue is interrupted 2 Some Opinions of the Press — continued. by changes of scene, rich withj the glow and symboHsm of the East, and both picture and action . . . call for the fullest imaginative effort on the part of the reader." " The book is pregnant with most suggestive thought, and has several startling half-prophecies regarding the future attainments of man." Spectator. — " Let us congratulate Professor Acharya on a notable -linguistic feat. . . . Original imaginative prose . . . written with accomplishment and mastery. Sometimes we light upon passages of genuine charm and the rare faculty of poetic evocation. Let the reader be grateful for making the acquaintance of the Pilgrim of the Sky, the Ocean Wanderer, and the charming Sister of the Birch. The learned author's main purpose is probably to suggest that though the mystery of existence is vast and overwhelming, yet is it penetrated by gleams that bring happiness and unquenchable hope to the minds of illogical men." Sufi. — " A charming book that invites close study." N.Z. Herald. — "A prose poem of great beauty and of delicate, occult mysticism. This philosopher embodies much original thought in this unusual book." Vision. — " When one plunges into the Gaurisankar Cave, and is aware of voices trying to utter unutterable things, conscious of strange shapes and wonderful light- ing effects . . . one is perplexed." " Swift might have written something of the kind (the title-page) in ' Gulliver's Travels,' or Lewis Carroll in one of his delightful letters to children, . . . but in the pages that follow we get something much more than amuse- ment . . . now and again a hint of true wisdom, a gleam of beauty. There is no humour in Dante's vision, but there is humour in this Indian's comedy, no less divine, let us remember, because occasionally we hear the sound of laughter." Warrington E.vaminer. — " Inspired by the thoroughly Indian conception of the unity of life and its spiritual essence. The book is certainly strange, but very inter- esting. It is written in beautiful Enghsh, and will repay careful reading." Theosophist. — " A symbolical drama, strikingly re- presenting phases of Eastern thought and speculation — some of the passages indicative of wide imagination and 3 Some Opinions of the Press — continued. vision. Fascinating and thought-provoking . . . cordi- ally recommended." Kalpaka. — " Like the immortal Bunyan our author is ... a word-painter of no mean order, who, by happy touches, has made scenes from the life of the spirit move before the mind's eye of the sympathetic reader. And he is, without doubt, more catholic in his ' occult ' imagi- nation and intelligence than the narrow, cold, theology- bound Bunyan, whose mental horizon extended no further than the edge of the Christian Scriptures." BRAHMADARSANAM INTUITION OF THE ABSOLUTE Some Opinions of the Press The Times. — " A dignified exposition of the pantheistic Monism developed in the Upanishads. The author ... is highly tolerant ; kindly towards positivists, utilitarians, the devotees of natural science, anti-theists or so-called atheists. Eastern and Western, and all dealers in the occult, as one who occupies a higher stand- point than these and their like. He knows that all Truth is one." The Scotsman. — " An interesting and stimulating intro- duction to a very large subject. The lectures . . . will be of constant interest to earnest students." The Spectator.— "-The book has this singular and, we had almost said, romantic interest, that it is an account of Hindu philosophy from within by an inheritor of Hindu tradition, by one who is in a subtle sense, as no European can be, a mental contemporary of the ancient sages whose speculations he endeavours, with remarkable success on the whole, to put into the conventional language of Western philosophy. " The Wednesday Review. — " The lectures which make up the book . .'. are extremely instructive, and must be read with considerable profit and delight by all people who want spiritual guidance, . . . (The Swami's) ex- tremely perspicuous explanation of Mahat and Aham- kara is highly illuminating, .... we have not come 4 Some Opinions of the Press — contiiiued. across such a clear exposition of this matter anywhere else. . . . The Swami speaks very lovingly of the re- hgions of Christ and Islam, and points out how they are essentially at one with the Hindu Scriptures. . . . We would commend the book to our missionary friends . . , (the) lectures breathe pure Soul-bliss in every Hne of them. . . . The book . . . in our opinion should be read by every seeker after Truth." The Century Bevieic. — "There has scarcely been another book on Hindu philosophy that has gripped us as the one before us." llie Occult lUvlexc. — " These lectures . . . constitute an unusually capaljle survey of the field of Indian religio- philosophic thought." The Xem India. — "Admirably simple and clear, but by no means superficial." A Voice from India. — We specially recommend this book to the thinking world who are willing to know the realities of life." The Ihihlin F..rpre.^s. — "An illuminating introduction to the study of Hindu philosophy." The Theosophif^t. — ". . . This simple and straight- forward little introductory manual. The author is one of those stalwart sons of India who have gone forth into Western lands to deliver the message of spiritual freedom contained in the Vedanta Philosophy. . . . We heartily recommend this genuine little work to all earnest seekers after Truth." The Brooklyn Daily Eayle. — " . . . From beginning to end ... a beautifiil elaboration of the lesson to all mankind to love God." The Journal of Education. — " The author has done his work well, and the volume should be of real assistance to all who wish to study Indian philosophical and religious thought." The San Francisco Chronicle. — "Who was it said these Hindus write better English than the English ? . . . The remark is again justified in the writings of Sri Ananda Acharya, whose book, ' Brahmadarsanam, or Intuition of the Absolute,' is a model of the graceful and explicit expression of abstract thought. . . . The substance of his book is an emphasis of the higher values of the spiritual life, which he expresses in the most beautiful language." 5 Some Opinions of the Press — continued. The Cape Times. — '''' The author is one of the enthusi- astic band of whole-hearted champions of Indian thought whose appearance is one of the most significant pheno- mena of modern times. . . . The lectures . . . serve the purpose, owned in the Preface, of ' persuading the reader that he and I are of one blood and one life.' They show the author to be a man of wide learning, of philosophical acumen, and of a high enthusiasm. . . . They are set forth in lucid and nervous English." Prahuddha Bharata. — " The writer is to be congratu- lated on the apparent ease and attractiveness with which he has succeeded in presenting the abstruse and recondite conclusions and the hnes of argument of Hindu philo- sophies in a terse, luminous, and attractive garb." The Madras Mail. — "Sri Ananda Acharya has suc- ceeded in making his lectures an introduction to the study of Hindu philosophy." The Dial. — "The author . . . does the reader a genuine service by predisposing him to examine further." The Buluth Herald. — " ... A short-cut to valuable data, much of which hitherto has been buried or scattered here and there, and difficult to locate. " The Sun, Baltimore. — " . . . The most valuable addi- tion to existing literature on the subject. . . . The work of a man of broad cultivation, for to his profound know- ledge of Hindu philosophy he has added an extensive knowledge of Western writers," The World, California. — " . . . Clear and logical, presented in the tolerant, non- dogmatic style which characterises the Indian philosopher and thinker." New York Times. — " Sri Ananda Acharya is an excellent writer. He has a faculty for making the most abstract and profound subject absorbing and entertaining." Nieuv)e Theologische Studien (Holland). — " The author is no ordinary writer. The way in which he defends the Indian caste system is remarkable. He is quite at home in the works of Western philosophers, of the Kantian as well as of the Hegelian school. And apart from the charm of hearing Hindu philosophy explained and championed by its own exponent we must acknowledge that the present work has been admirably accomplished." (Translation.) 6 Q / THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE STAMPED BELOW AN INITIAL FINE OF 25 CENTS WILL BE ASSESSED FOR FAILURE TO RETTURN THIS BOOK ON THE DATE DUE. THE PENALTY WILL INCREASE TO 50 CENTS ON THE FOURTH DAY AND TO $1.00 ON THE SEVENTH DAY OVERDUE. JAN 18 1946 t% ^ AH it — MAR.1^^^ W^ - D IS C m 2 '87 8001053371 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY